High-voltage probe body visits Barapukuria mine

The high-powered probe committee, formed with director general of the prime minister’s office (PMO) Khalilur Rahman as its head to look into the disappearance of coal from the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Limited (BCMCL), visited the coal mine on Thursday.

The three-member team, led by Khalilur Rahman, went to the coal mine around 11:45am.

However, they did not talk to newsmen.

Meanwhile, employees of Barapukuria Coal-fired Thermal Power Plant, which was shut down due to shortage of coal, staged demonstrations around 12:00 protesting the disappearance of coal and demanding punishment of those responsible for it.

They also demanded nationalisation of their jobs.

The disappearance of coal came to light a few days back when a team from Power Development Board visited the coal mine and found that there was no adequate reserve of coal in the yard of the mine.

As per the official investigation, the stock was found to have a shortage of 147,000 tonnes of coal.

A case was filed with Parbatipur police station on 24 July against 19 officials which was shifted to the Anti-Corruption Commission for investigation.

Besides, two more committees -- one by Petrobangla and other by ACC -- were formed to look into the incident.