Coal rejects reach Madhya Pradesh railway siding, locals allege scam

Late last month, the Madhya Pradesh Police seized two railway rakes that were found allegedly unloading coal rejects from a washery at a siding used by the railways at Singrauli near the Jharkhand border.
These were allegedly from Barkakana in Jharkhand and suspected to have been brought by a Kolkata-based trader for blending with other coal stocks and selling in the open market, people in the know of the matter said.

The incident, which locals claimed was part of a large-scale scandal, occurred at a time when the country was grappling with a shortage of coal, and had floated tenders to import the dry fuel to ensure that its thermal power plants continued to run.

The two trains were together carrying 8,000 tonnes of coal rejects, by-products of coal washing that have some residue calorific value. The Krishnashiela siding had 1 million tonnes of coal, it is being ascertained if these stocks were also rejects or not. There were no claimants for the coal that arrived in the two rakes, each having 58 wagons. The police, who confiscated the trains in the last week of July, released those 7-10 days later.

An official at the East Central Railway told ET that blending of coal with rejects was not happening within the railway siding premises. "Not on railway premises. Matter under investigation by local administration," he said.

He said handling of coal was the responsibility of the buyer. "The railway has no role to play in it," he said. "The freight is charged on the documents and the declaration provided by them (buyers). The quality of coal and its end use is not in the railway domain."

Coal India subsidiary Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL), which is headquartered at Singrauli, has temporarily halted transfer of coal from its mines to the railway siding. Coal India and the coal ministry did not respond to ET's emails seeking comment till press time Thursday.

A senior bureaucrat aware of the matter said it was yet to be ascertained how the coal rejects travelled a few hundred kilometres to reach the siding and how those involved got rakes when there was a shortage of those.

In the beginning of this year, the Indian Railways had to cancel passenger trains to make way for freight trains to carry coal to ensure that thermal power plants continued to operate.

"On July 22 and July 24, two rakes came from Barkakana in Jharkhand. The material was unloaded and when we arrived, we saw layers of different coals with different calorific value," said a local.

Pilferage in coal belts is rampant, particularly in times of fuel shortage. But this level has never been seen before, a government official said. Authorities in Singrauli had swung into action after local people complained of a fire in a section of the coal dump, the people in the know said. The administration sought help from NCL to douse the fire.

The Krishnashiela siding was being used by the railways since 1988 for storing coal that would be picked up or despatched by/to the consumers of NCL, locals said.