The Unsolved Mystery Of Hi-Tech Coal Theft At NCL
NCL and CIL turn blind eye towards what could be the biggest coal heist of the decade
This story could be an inspirational script for a high-tech coal theft movie for Bollywood. This real story if turned into a film could perhaps make viewers forget the high voltage dramas on coal theft like Gangs of Wasseypur, Gunday and Koyelaanchal.
As per reports with www.indianpsu.com – it was on 06/01/2022 that an unknown electronic device was spotted on the Weigh Bridge of Bina Project of Northern Coalfields Limited, seemingly planted and operated remotely to manipulate the weight of coal to benefit a particular vendor.
The matter was reported to higher authorities of Northern Coalfields Limited one Mr. Ashish Kumar Mishra, Assistant Foreman, E&M, Bina Project. Surprisingly enough, the person who reported this scam, Mr. Ashish Kumar Mishra, was placed under suspension. And the matter was hushed up.
www.indianpsu.com took up the matter with Mr. Pramod Agarwal, CMD of Coal India Limited, Mr. S.K. Sadangi, Chief Vigilance Officer of Coal India Limited, Mr. Bhola Singh, CMD of Northern Coalfields Limited and Mr. Amit Kumar Shrivastava, Chief Vigilance Officer of Northern Coalfields Limited via email but none of these officers even bothered to reply. Perhaps, they did not have any answers to some pertinent questions raised by us.
a) Why did the CVO of NCL not investigate the matter?
b) Was this reported to the top authorities of Coal India Limited?
c) What action was taken by the CVO of Coal India Limited in this matter?
d) If the Vigilance Departments of NCL and CIL were not competent enough, technically, to handle this matter, why was it not reported to other law enforcing authorities including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)?
For sure, this a serious matter and could have cost the exchequer, losses of crores of Rupees as no one in NCL or CIL seems to know that for how long this device was planted, how many times it was used and for whose gain, the device had been planted.
The darker side of the coal mines and coal mafia continues to have its free run, of course with the patronage of colluding corrupt government officials.
