Trial production resumes Sept 10

The technical committee formed by Petrobangla to assess the technical losses of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Limited (BCMCL) arrived at the mine site in the district's Parbatipur upazila on a two-day visit yesterday.

Meanwhile, coal production of BCMCL on trial basis is now set to start on September 10, said the company's newly appointed Managing Director (MD) Fazlur Rahman.

Formed on August 28, the seven-member body headed by Mahbub Sarwar, director (Production Sharing Contract) of Petrobangla, will assess the system losses from the production to piling at the stockyard and submit their findings to the chairman of Petrobangla within 10 office days.

The committee members, except one, arrived at the coalmine site yesterday morning, and talked with mine officials and miners and visited the stockyard, BCMCL officials said.

They will leave the site after a two-day visit today, said Falzur Rahman, managing director (MD) of BCMCL.

Earlier on Monday, a six-member team of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) led by columnist Syed Abul Moksud visited the mine site, talked with the officials of BCMCL and Barapukuria Power Plant and held a meeting with local stakeholders in the coalmine area.

Coal production of the mine remained suspended since June 16 this year for developing fresh coal pocket in underground.

Barapukuria 525MW Coal Fired Power Plant was shut down on July 22, following the July 16 detection of the disappearance of 1.45 lakh tonnes of coal worth Tk 230 crore from stockyard of BCMCL.

Later, Petrobangla suspended four officials including its MD Habib Uddin Ahmed.

Brining corruption accusation against 19 officials including Habib Uddin, Anisur Rahman, manager (Admin) of BCMCL, filed a case with Parbatipur Police Station on July 24.

During an interrogation by the Anti-Corruption Commission in Dhaka on August 29, the immediate past MD claimed that the missing of coal was due to system losses, which were not adjusted before.