The case of the missing coal!

About 1.42 lakh tonnes of coal with a value of Tk 227 crore has disappeared from Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL). Astonishing as it may sound, apparently the BCMCL officials failed to inform the senior management of Petrobangla of the situation, and it didn't dawn upon anyone to cross-check inventory regularly on how such a huge consignment of coal could disappear from the yard of BCMCL. We understand that a number of officials have been suspended pending an investigation into the matter.

In the meantime, the lack of coal has already stopped power generation at two plants that used to produce a combined 250 megawatts (MW) and we are told it is affecting another unit that would otherwise be producing 275MW. Hence, the "missing" coal has managed to take 525MW of power off the grid and its effects are already being felt in terms of power cuts. The sheer magnitude of the coal in question begs the question as to how long it took for the coal to be spirited away from BCMCL. This theft could not have taken place without the connivance of officials and yard workers. At the end of the day, all we can hope for is that the probe committee will make a genuine inquiry and identify those involved in the scam and bring them to justice. The authorities should also introduce security measures so that such an event does not recur in the future.