CBI initiates probe to verify fraud claim of Rs 28 crore expenditure

Mumbai: The CBI has initiated a probe to verify allegations that expenses to the tune of Rs 28 crore shown as incurred in removing topsoil and stones at a Chandrapur open cast coal mine for mining activities during January 2012 to June 2015 could be dubious.

The money was shown as having allegedly been spent against the purchase of resources used in removing topsoil and stones like diesel, explosives and POL (Petroleum and Oil-based Lubricants), said a CBI source. The CBI has taken 11 then officers of the Western Coalfield Limited, who were associated with the open cast mine’s work, under its scanner while the alleged irregularities are being examined by an exhaustive verification of the records and technical parameters, said the source. The probe was on receipt of a report against the alleged fraud by the vigilance wing of the public-sector company.

Relying on the rate of consumption for the consumption of diesel and POL for the actual amount of topsoil and stones removed fixed by the the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, the agency, the CBI probe found that around 38 lakh litres of excess diesel and 1.94 lakh of excess POL had been shown in the records related to the mine during the period under the scanner, according to the source. The probe also found that excess explosives worth around 1, 500 metric tonnes were claimed to have been shown in the records.

The probe used central coal ministry’s Coal India Limited’s 2012 code on ‘New Code for Uniform System of Maintenance, Control and Verification of coal stock in all mines of CIL’ as a reference in its probe. The code contains standard procedures to be followed for excavation of the coal and removal of topsoil and stone debris.