ROURKELA: The Sundargarh administration on Wednesday detected illegal stock of over 10,000 tonne of coal by Aryan Coal Beneficiation Pvt Ltd (ACBPL) outside its premises at Kanika in Hemgir tehsil of the district.
Following the detection, the Mining department suspended the license of the coal beneficiation unit. The discovery of the illegal stock comes after massive illegal coal mining was unearthed inside forests of Gopalpur range in Hemgir block earlier this month. However, the administration clarified that there was no link between the illegal stock of ACBPL and coal thefts from the reserve and revenue forests of Gopalpur.
Sundargarh sub-collector Dasarathi Sarabu said an administrative team had verified the physical stock of ACBPL on April 10 and found shortage of about 2,800 tonne. Authorities of ACBPL did not disclose about the storage of over 10,000 tonne on a plot owned by it, around one km from the unit.
Sarabu said no permission was taken by ACBPL authorities for storage of coal outside the unit in violation of guidelines for which the Mining department suspended its license and sought an explanation from its authorities.
He further said the coal stock was stored more than a year back outside the beneficiation unit. Prima facie, it appeared that the coal stolen from nearby legal leasehold mines of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) and others were getting stacked on the plot of ACBPL and gradually processed at the unit. The illegal coal stock has been seized by the administration and further investigation is underway, Sarabu added.
The ACBPL authorities claimed the additional coal stock was stored outside the unit’s campus to protect it from fire mishap. However, they failed to give any satisfactory reply as to why necessary permission was not taken from the Mining department.