United News of Bangladesh

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.