Al Mamun Harun Ur Rashid :
The Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) is struggling to go for full operation for the extraction of coal, but the continuous infection of the miners by the coronavirus is thwarting the efforts.
Amid the serious electricity crisis which had compelled the government to ration power through load shedding, the Barapukuria started mining in July 27 after a hiatus of three months.
The BCMCL at that time said that the extracted coals would be used for electricity generation at the coal based power plant and it would ultimately contribute to the national grid.
But the authority again stopped coal extraction just after three days of its resumption due to serious spread of coronavirus among the local and Chinese workers.
The extraction of coals from the Barapukuria has been stopped after three days of its resumption due to the serious spreading of Coronavirus among the workers.
Nearly 25 days gone, but the authority yet could not go for full operations of extracting coals due to the coronavirus infection which has been hampering the work.
The BCMCL sources said the Chinese company will not go for full operations until all the workers are free from virus infection.
They have detected some 186 local workers with suspicion of the virus infection. Of them, 10 workers have already been isolated for their infection.
The rest of the 176 local workers who are in quarantine will go for tests on Friday to be sure about their positivity, they added.
“We still could not go for full operations because of the coronavirus infection. We have quarantined some 176 local workers. They will be tested on Thursday or Friday. Those who will be negative will join the work,” Md. Shaiful Islam Sarkar, Managing Director of BCMCL told the New Nation on Thursday.
“Some 130 local workers and 300 Chinese workers are working now. But the Chinese authority said they could not go for full operation until all workers are free of infection,” he added.
With the manpower shortage, the BCMCL authority is extracting coals in one shift and when all workers will work in full swing the second shift will start then, sources said.
The BCMCL said that they hope extracting some 900 to 1,000 tonnes of coals per day and when the double shift will begin, the per day coal extraction will be between 2000 and 2500 tonnes.
“Right now the production of coal is low. It is maximum 1,000 tonnes per day. We hope that per day production will be maximum 2,500 tonnes when double shift will start,” Shaiful Islam said.
Sources said that the Barapukuria coal based power plant is consuming some 2,000 tonnes of coals per day and generating some 200MW of electricity.
“If the power plant wants to go for full operations against its capacity of 275 MW, the consumption of coals has to be increased,” he added.
The resumption of the coal mining has created a ray of hope amid the serious shortfall of electricity across the country as industries and people have been experiencing several hours of load shedding every day.
Currently the country has about 2,000MW of load shedding which has been hampering the smooth functioning of industries.
The current demand for electricity ranges between 14,000MW and 14,500MW but the power plants are generating 12,000-13,000MW.
The government recently has requested the people to have patience till September as, they hope, people will get rid of the sufferings of load shedding by that time.
Due to the shortfall of gas, fuel or coal, the electricity production has been hampered because the power plants are failing to generate adequate electricity against the national demand.
