Ranchi, June 4: The Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) is losing huge amount of money every year due to pilferage of coal from mines.

According to sources, some of the people from the company’s management are allegedly hand-in-glove with the coal mafia.

Sources at the company said: “Coal, worth Rs 150 crore, are stolen from different collieries of the CCL every year. The company can perform more efficiently if the theft is stopped. But the management is not taking concrete measures to check the menace.”

Another source said: “Everyday about 300 trucks full of coal go out from the collieries in Argadda, Chanho, Mandu, Kuju and Barkagaon. Due to this the Jharkhand government is also losing a huge revenue. The management is also helping the mafia steal coal.”

He said: “This can be stopped to an extent if coal is transported through the railways. But the railway line between Piprawar and MaClaskiganj had been left incomplete for years.”

“Some of the powerful people from the management hire contractors to transport the coal by trucks. They do this so that it is easy for the coal mafia to steal,” he added.

Another official said: “On one hand the CCL claims that the PR (Peace Rated) workers, who are required for loading coal and other raw material, are in surplus. And on the other hand the management is paying the contractors a huge amount to do the work. As a result, the loaders are sitting idle. The management is doing this deliberately because the contractors play a major role in the coal theft.”

The official said some of the expensive machines are lying unused and they are not maintained properly.

He said: “The HEMMs (Heavy Earth Moving Machines) are not properly maintained by the CCL. The machines are very costly and if they are damaged a huge amount of money has to be spent for the repairs.

But the management claims that the allegations are not true.

Public relations officer of the CCL B.K. Sinha said: “The management takes adequate measures to stop the coal thefts and illegal mining in the collieries. Once a mine is abandoned, we fence the entire area and inform the district administration about it. We also deploy guards in the area.”

One of the officials at the security department of the CCL said: “As far as coal thefts are concerned, it is very difficult to keep track of each and every incident. But we try our best to take precautions against thefts. We have provided sufficient security in our collieries to stop the menace.”

“There are many villagers who live below the poverty line. They tend to take some coal, which they sell to earn a paltry amount, to feed their families. We have to ignore them on humanitarian grounds,” he added. “We are not aware of corruption within the company’s management. We will conduct a probe into the matter,” the official said.