Arbitrary railway construction deals with India and policy shift by the Bangladesh Water Development Board left mountains of mined stones unsold at the state-owned Maddhapara Granite Mining Company Limited (MGMCL), which has the capacity to meet a maximum of 8 per cent of the country’s annual power demand, the mine authorities said.

The unsold mountains of stone attracted media attention after stone theft in picturesque Sada Pathor of Sylhet stripped stretches of the Dhalai River of its magnificent white stones, carried along by the onrush of water from the great hills of Meghalaya, particularly during monsoons, leaving behind pits and holes.

Though the stone theft in Sylhet has been going on for years, the crime surged after the political changeover in last year’s August.

Stones theft from ‘Sada Pathor’ are of the sizes of five to 20mm and 20 to 40mm, the MGMCL officials said, used in small projects of the Local Government Engineering Department and Road and Highways and in the private construction of residences.

The MGMCL produces monthly about 1,000 tonnes of stones measuring five to 20mm and maximum 250 tonnes of stones measuring 20-40mm. The entire production gets sold as soon as they are made at prices of Tk 3250 a tonne and Tk 3600 a tonne, which is competitive to the market price.

“The largest mountain of stone at the yard is of the size of 40-60mm, also known as blast stone,” said Abdullah Al Mamun, deputy general manager, MGMCL.

About 7 lakh tonnes of blast stone remained unsold. Originally designed for use in railway construction by the government, the stone never got stacked until three years ago, when India started supplying 100 per cent of stones needed for Bangladesh’s railway construction projects, the MGMCL officials said.

“Blast stone use in railway projects came to a complete halt,” said Mamun.

About one lakh tonnes of the blast stone are used annually for maintenance of the west zone railway. The railway’s east zone uses some stone for its maintenance as well, but that is not enough.

Blast stone production accounts for 34 per cent of all stones mined annually at the MGMCL.

Bolder stones, meant to be used in riverbank construction and river training by the BWDB, measuring above 200mm, accounts for 17 per cent of the annual production of all stones.

“The BWDB stopped using bolder stones suddenly without notice three years ago, replacing it with blocks made of cement,” said Mamun.

The sudden policy shift led to the piling of 3 lakh tonnes of boulder stones.

Around one lakh tonnes of dust stone, measuring 0 to 20mm, is also unsold at the MGMCL. This is also an unusual phenomenon created by the LGED and the roads and highways reducing its use of the stones in their projects, the MGMCL officials said.

About 2.25 crore tons of stone are used annually in Bangladesh. The stone demand rose by five per cent a year recently. The MGMCL produces only 15 lakh tonnes.

#With additional inputs from UNB’s Dinajpur correspondent Salahuddin Ahmed