There is a gross discrepancy at the Barapukuria coal mine over coal reserves.
Either the company has shown fewer amounts than actually extracted or sold more coal than recorded in the accounts, said officials of Petrobangla and Barapukuria.
There is a feeling that mine officials may have been complicit in the deception.
One Petrobangla official said: “from a large amount of coal, one lakh tonnes could easily have been sold over a long period of time.”
Suppose, a buyer took 100 tonnes of coal and was given 110 tonnes; the extra ten tonnes can be divided between buyer and the sales representative, observed the official.
Barapukuria officials say that coal was sold on 31 July, 2017 and 25 January 2018. From 18 March last, selling to local buyers stopped due to a rise in demand for coal at the power plant.
Mysteriously, no account is available of the coal reserve left on the yard after sales, since the inception of the mine in 2005.
The only account figure available state that until operation was ceased, 1 core 22 thousand 933 metric tonnes of coal were extracted.
Barapukuria mine authority informs that they extracted three lakh three thousand fifteen tonnes of coal in the first year. In 2016-17, the highest amounts, 11 lakh 60 thousand 657 metric tonnes of coal were extracted.
Starting with the rate of $61.50 in 2001, the price rose to $130 in July, 2017.
A former chairman of Petrobangla said: “corruption may have been caused through the exploitation of intimate links within the mines.”
He alluded to an alleged close relation between a former MD and a contractor company.
Head of the Petrobangla formed probe committee, engineer Md Kamruzzaman, said: “investigation is ongoing; this coal could have been stolen, the records fiddled. There are many possibilities.”
Nothing can be stated with clarity unless the investigation is done, he added.
Due to change of shift at the mine, extraction was stopped at Barapukuria last week; at this time, the PDB requested to store enough coal to keep the power plant in operation.
Reportedly, a one lakh tonne of coal is in reserve, and the power plant will not face any crisis.