MD, 19 other Barapukuria officials sued over coal scam

Nineteen former and current officials of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Limited (BCMCL) including its managing director have been sued over disappearance of 1.45 lakh tonnes coal.

Anisur Rahman, manager (admin) of BCMCL, filed the case with Parbatipur Police Station in the wee hours of today, our Dinajpur correspondent reports quoting Fakhrul Islam, inspector (investigation) of the police station.

The accused are:Abu Taher Md Nuruzzaman Chowdhury, general manager (mine operation); Khaledul Islam, deputy general manager; Habib Uddin Ahmed, managing director; Masudur Rahman Hawladar, general manager (general services); Ashok Kumar Hawladar, manager (production management); Arifur Rahman, manager (maintenance and operation);Zahidul Islam manager (design, construction and maintenance); Akramul Haque deputy manager (safety management);Khalilur Rahman, deputy manager (coal handling and management);Morsheduzzaman, deputy manager (maintenance and operation);HabiburRahman, deputy manager (production management);Zahidur Rahman, deputy manager (mine development);Sattyen Nath Barman, assistant manager (ventilation management); Syed Imam Hasan, manager (security);Zobaer Ali, deputy general manager (mine planning operation); Abdul Mannan Patwari, former general manager (finance) and Gopal Chandra Saha, general manager (finance); and Abul Kashem Prodhania and Mosharaf Hossain, former general manager (exploration) and secretary of the company.

According to the case statement, the 19 officials were involved with the disappearance of 1.45 lakh tonnes of coal from the mine.

Petrobangla, the parent organisation of BCMCL, has already taken action against four officials of BCMCL over the issue.

A five-member ACC team on Mondayvisited the mine site and hinted of corruption there.

According to the plant's records, around 1.48 lakh tonnes coal should have been there at the yard.

But the ACC team, Petrobangla officials and visiting members of BPDB, found only around 3,000 tonnes of coal.

According to BCMCL officials, the company produced around 1.0166 crore tonnes of coal from 2005 till June 29 this year.

Of those, 66.87 lakh tonnes coal was supplied to BPDB and 33.19 lakh tonnes coal was sold to different companies and brickfield operators.

Power generation of Barapukuria 525MW power plant was suspended for an indefinite period on Sunday night due to the coal crisis, said Md Adul Hakim Sarkar, chief engineer of the power plant.