Illegal coal being ferried to the market. Picture by Pankaj Singh

Dhanbad, Oct. 1: Illegal mining robs coal companies of more than Rs 207 crore every year and causes an annual loss of Rs 34 crore to the state exchequer. This and a lot more was revealed in a report prepared by XLRI School of Business and Human Resources.

The report, prepared at the behest of the government and Coal India Limited (CIL), says that about 1.37 million tonnes of coal is pilfered annually. The mafia bosses run a parallel economy and deprive the state exchequer of royalty worth crores.

The startling figures have, however, failed to stir the district administration into action. Apart from holding a few meetings with coal officials, the administration seems to have taken no concrete steps in the past several weeks.

The XLRI team had begun its survey in the mining areas of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) and Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) earlier this year. Team members visited all the major districts, including Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Giridih, Koderma, Chatra, Dumka and Deoghar. They did not leave out mafia dens and even acquired confidential data from railway sources on the illegal coal trade.

The report was compiled and submitted to the Union coal ministry, which had ordered the survey after being swamped with complaints of illegal mining in Jharkhand. A copy was also forwarded to the CIL.

The report states that it is a wrong notion that illegal trade is just concentrated to abandoned mines and that only the poor are involved in the operation. According to the findings, more than 90 per cent of illegal trade is done at railway stations and coal yards during transportation of stock from legal mines. Company officials and security personnel at railway stations often have links with coal smugglers, and are equally to blame for the pilferage.

Besides baring some startling facts, the XLRI report also suggests ways to tackle the menace, which is eating into the revenue of the state, CIL and coal companies, and creating a parallel economy for coal smugglers. Generation of employment is a must in the coal belt, it points out.

Dhanbad superintendent of police Sheetal Oraon agrees. Admitting that illegal mining and smuggling of coal is rampant in the district, he blames unemployment for the sorry state of affairs.

“A section of jobless youths have no choice but to adopt the trade. They often risk their lives to earn enough to support their families. The police alone cannot stop this illegal trade. The government, coal companies and locals have to formulate a joint strategy to stop pilferage,” Oraon said.

He stressed that methods to generate employment opportunities could help curb the menace to a large extent.