Dhaka: Petrobangla never made any inventory since start of the Barapukuria coal-mine operation and supply of the coal to the nearby Barapukuria power plant in 2006.

State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid on Wednesday said this while talking to newsmen after receipt of a probe report carried out by Petrobangla on huge volume of missing coal from the Barapukuria coal mine, reports the UNB.

‘It seems all officials at the Barapukuria mine are involved in such irregularities and corruption. Action will be taken as per report against the persons involved in the wrongdoings,’ he told reporters at Bangladesh Secretariat.

‘I received the probe report just now today (Wednesday). I’m yet to go through it. I have to study it and then I can make comment’, he told reporters.    

The state-owned Petrobangla formed a 3-member inquiry committee, headed by its director (mining) Quamruzzaman after it detected alleged disappearance of 146,000 metric tons of coal from its subsidiary Barapukuria coal-mine in Dinajpur.

The unusual shortage in coal supply led to the forced shutdown of the nearby Barapukuria power plant which triggered a huge power cut in the country’s northern region.

When it came to the notice of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, she expressed anger and ordered for forming a high-power committee.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) also formed a three-member probe committee to look into the ‘disappearance of coal’ from Barapukuria coal mine and filed a criminal case against some 19 top officials of the coal mine.

According to an ACC unofficial note, Managing Director of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Habib Uddin Ahmed and others allegedly sold 1.16 lakh tonnes of coal and embezzled Tk 200 crore.

The districts which are facing power crisis due to the shutdown of the plant include Rangpur, Panchagarh, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Dinajpur and Thakurgaon as they receive power supply mainly from the Barapukuria plant. 

Officials said the authorities were trying to ensure power supply to the districts from alternative sources like power plants in other districts—Sirajganj, Khulna and Rajshahi.

Officials said the shortage of coal suddenly came to their notice a few days back when a team from PDB visited the coal mine and found that there was no adequate reserve of coal in the yard of the mine.

They found that there was only 6,000 tonnes of coal reserved in the yard which would meet the requirement of only 2-3 days.

The coal production in the Barapukuria coal mine was suspended for about one and half months under a programme to change the mining shaft.

But the PDB was assured by the BCMCL authorities of continuing the coal supply from the reserved coal during the closure of the mine operation.

PDB officials said the power plant requires about 4,500 tonnes of coal a day when all the three units are in operation. But now two units remain off and only the third unit with 275MW capacity was operating to a tune of 130 MW.

The issue was immediately communicated with Petrobangla, they said.

Petrobangla top officials identified inconsistency in the coal reserve at the coal mine yard.