Rampant coal theft in collieries in Tinsukia district

A CORRESPONDENT

DIBRUGARH: The coal smugglers are operating openly and extracting coal from the colliery areas of Margherita and the Ledo area of the Tinsukia district.

Sources said rampant theft of coal has been going on in Namdang, Borgolai, Tipong, Ledo OCP and Tirap collieries. Every day, the coal thieves steal a huge quantity of coal from the restricted collieries.

"The coal smugglers steal coal from the collieries in broad daylight, under the very nose of Coal India Limited employees. They are operating and stealing coal with the backing of ministers and MLAs. They are powerful people, we cannot do anything to them because of their political backings," said an employee of Coal India Limited on condition of anonymity.

"The coal thieves are using JCB, excavators to steal coal from the collieries. Rampant stealing of coal has been going on from Namdang, Borgolai, Tipong, Ledo OCP and Tirap collieries. The coal thieves steal as much coal from the collieries as they want with the support of security guards who are appointed by the CIL for security purposes. All the collieries are situated at Patkai hills," said a source.

"We have to climb around 1-2 km to Pakai hills to extract coal. We get Rs 450 per bag. We are doing this for many years. Our livelihood depends on coal. I am a permanent employee of a tea garden, so I climb once or twice to extract coal but most of my friends climb 4-5 times daily," said a worker involved in the illegal extraction of coal.

NEC currently operates in Tikak colliery in Margherita, Tinsukia with two opencast projects (OCPs), namely Tikak OCP and Tikak Extension OCP with a combined coal production capacity of 4 lakh tonnes per annum.

In June 2020, North Eastern Coalfields India Limited, Margherita ceased coal production due to environmental concerns. But on March 26 this year, Union Minister of Coal and Parliamentary Affairs Dr Prahlad Joshi and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma resumed the operation of Tikak colliery.

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