Production resumed at Barapukuria Coal Mine on a limited scale Sunday night, ten days before the stipulated time. The Chinese workers resumed the coal production and the full-fledged production will be resumed in a day or two after the local workers rejoin. Managing director of the mine, Engineer Saiful Islam, said the coal extraction remained suspended from July 29 as 106 workers tested positive for Covid-19. Read: Proposal to double launch fares denied However, the coal extraction work from phase 1306 of the mine restarted from Sunday night with the help of Chinese workers, he said. The authorities concerned also collected samples of 213 workers under phase 1041 of the mine on Monday while 100 workers tested negative for Covid-19. Meanwhile, the load shedding in the northern region of the country has increased for the last several days due to the suspension of coal extraction as the authorities concerned of Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant kept one unit operative due to a coal crisis.  

The production at Barapukuria Coal Mine will remain suspended for 15 more days as another 16 workers –six of them Chinese - tested positive for Covid-19, authorities said on Monday. The production at the state-owned mine was first suspended on Saturday when 90 workers, including 50 Chinese, contracted the virus. The suspension came for the safety of other unaffected workers at the mine, said Saiful Islam Sarkar, manager at the mine. Also read: Barapukuria coal mine workers suspend demo after 2 months He said the virus forced home isolation of 450 local and 300 Chinese workers of the mine, have been asked to remain in home isolation. In such situation, the authorities concerned suspended coal extraction in the 1306 phase and 1041 phase respectively. The authorities expected that the production will likely to resume after 15 days. Also read: Coal production suspended as 90 mine workers contract Covid in Dinajpur The coal extraction from the 1306 phase started on July 26 on a trial basis and till Friday, "we were able to produce 5,000 metric tonnes of coal,” said Saiful. However, 40,000 metric tonnes of coal are in stock, which will be used for power generation, he said.

Demonstrating workers of Barapukuria Coal Mine have suspended their two months long movement for returning to work and demanding arrears after getting partial acceptance from the authority. Robiul Islam, President of Barapukuria Coal Mine Miners' and Workers' Union said on Friday night in a meeting the authority agreed to let the workers join work in phases. “Regarding the payment of eight months' arrears a decision will be taken after a meeting with the workers’ representative in Petrobangla in Dhaka,” he said. Also read: Barapukuria coal mine workers continue demo demanding arrears “On Saturday, in the first phase 212 workers’ samples were sent for Covid-19 test. If they test negative they will be able to rejoin work after staying in quarantine for a week to 1o days inside the mine premises,” said Kamruzzaman Khan, Managing Director Engineer of Barapukuria Coal Mine. He said all the 850 workers will be allowed to join work again. The workers have been holding different programmes since March to press home their demands. Robiul Islam Robi, president of Barapukuria Coal Mine Miners' and Workers' Union said,”Around 1100 local miners excavate coal from the mine under three Chinease contractor companies CMC, XMC and JXMC.” Also read: Barapukuria Coal Mine workers give 72 hour-ultimatum for payment of arrears Of them 700 were supposed to get monthly Tk 4,000 each as allowance during their lay off due to Covid-19 pandemic but in the last 8 months they neither received any allowances nor were allowed to rejoin work. Meanwhile, the contracting companies forced 400 workers to stay inside the mine and work without allowing them to meet their families.

The workers of Barapukuria Coal Mine continued their demonstrations for the second consecutive day on Thursday at the entrance of the coal mine to press home their two-point demand including payment of eight months’ arrears. On Wednesday, the workers along with their families staged demonstrations demanding the authorities allow the workers to return to work and pay their due wages before Eid-ul-Fitr. Also read: Barapukuria coal mine workers stage demo demanding arrears The workers have been holding different programmessince March to press home their demands. Meanwhile, another 400 workers who have been working locked inside the mine compound due to Covid situation for the last two years were staging demonstrations from inside to allow them work coming from home. Robiul Islam Robi, president of Barapukuria Coal Mine Miners' and Workers' Union said,” around 11,00 local miners excavate coal from the mine under three Chinease contractor companies CMC, XMC and JXMC.” “Of them 700 were supposed to get monthly Tk 4,000 each as allowance during their lay off due to Covid-19 pandemic but in the last 8 months they neither received any allowances nor were allowed to rejoin work.” Also read: Barapukuria Coal Mine workers give 72 hour-ultimatum for payment of arrears Meanwhile, the contracting companies forced 400 workers to stay inside the mine and work without allowing them to meet their families, he said. “To resolve the crisis the administration and the mine authority have not taken any steps yet,” said Abu Sufian, General Secretary of the workers’ union.

Agitated workers of Barapukuria Coal Mine in Dinajpur demonstrated on Sunday and gave an ultimatum of 72 hours to fulfill their demand of payment of eight months' arrears and rejoining work to the authority. The workers gathered for a meeting at the mine’s entrance after a demonstration in the area and handed a memorandum of the demands to the representative of the mine authority around noon. Also read: 175 officials including MD of Barapukuria Coal Mine contract Covid; coal extraction suspended If the demands are not met by 12pm on April 27, workers will take position in front of the mine’s entrance along with family and celebrate a joyless Eid-ul-Fitr there, said Robiul Islam, President of Barapukuria Coal Mine Miners' and Workers' Union. “Some 700 workers are struggling as eight months wages are due. Moreover, after sending them home due to Covid-19 two years have passed and the situation has become normal but they are not being allowed to join work yet,” said Abu Sufian, General Secretary of Barapukuria Coal Mine Miners' and Workers' Union. Also read: Roof collapse at Barapukuria coal mine kills 2 On January 30, this year, coal extraction was suspended temporarily at Barapukuria Coal Mine after around 125 Bangladeshi officials and 50 Chinese officials, including the managing director tested positive for COVID-19.

Around 125 Bangladeshi officials and 50 Chinese officials of the Barapukuria Coal Mine, including the managing director, have tested positive for COVID-19. Due to the situation, the coal extraction has been suspended temporarily from Thursday as the workers of the mine put on indefinite leave, said Engineer Kamruzzaman, Managing Director of Barapukuria Coal Mine. Read:In its peak, Covid wave may continue for another 2 weeks in Bangladesh: Experts Besides, of the 293 Chinese officials at Chinese contractors CMC and XMC, at least 50 were tested positive with Covid-19 after testing 184 workers. The infected are in home isolation while others on leave to curb the covid spread, said the MD. However, the coal based thermal power plant will not be affected as there is about 2.5 lakh tonnes of coal in stock, hoped the MD. Meanwhile, Mahmud Al Mamun, executive engineer of Barapukuria Thermal Power Station, said that out of 3 units with a capacity of 525 MW, a unit with a capacity of 300 MW has been kept active at the coal-based thermal power plant and a unit consumes 2,000 metric tonnes of coal daily to generate electricity. Read:Actually 5.48 lakh tons coal pilfered from Barapukuria: CAB Besides, one of the two more units with a capacity of 125 MW has been overhauled (servicing) and the other has been closed, he added. If the demand for electricity increases in the upcoming Boro season, all the three units will be active. However, it will be possible to keep power generation in coal and thermal power plants for another five months as there is no shortage of coal.

An investigation commission of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) on Tuesday claimed that the actual quantity of stolen coal from the Barapukuria Coal Mine was 5.48 lath tons higher than what was estimated by the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC).