Ranchi, Nov 26 : Jharkhand BJP chief Babulal Marandi on Wednesday alleged that the police administration and coal mafia are “hand in glove” in the illegal trade of coal in the state’s Dhanbad district.
Marandi, also the Leader of the Opposition, demanded that the Jharkhand government initiate a probe into the alleged partnership of the police and coal mafia.
“Earlier, we heard that coal mafias operate the illegal trade of coal and provides commissions to police and administrative officials seeking patronage. But, now the reports are coming that police officials in places like Dhanbad are directly involved in illegal trade of coal and they are operating it. This is a matter of serious concern,” he said while addressing media persons here.
The former chief minister alleged that there are around 30-40 illegal sites of coal mining in Dhanbad’s Nirsa, Jharia and Baghmara areas.
“Interestingly, the party (seeking to purchase coal) has to deposit up to Rs 1 crore in advance as security money for extracting coal from the illegal site. From the total sites, around 150-200 trucks of coal are extracted per day. They are sold at a price of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per tonne,” Marandi claimed.
The BJP leader asserted that if the state government is not involved in the process, it should immediately conduct a probe and identify who are part of the coal loot. (PTI)
