Hundreds of tons of coal being siphoned off at thermal power plants in Raichur?

RAICHUR: Hundreds of tons of coal, brought to the Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) and Yermarus Thermal Power Station (YTPS) are allegedly being siphoned off from railway wagons in the name of cleaning the rakes.

Officials of RTPS and YTPS visited the railway yard on Tuesday morning.

The wagons are not being completely emptied and part of the coal is left in the wagons. When the train rolls out of the power station, tractor-loads of the remaining coal in the wagons is collected and stored elsewhere. Every day, 6-7 tractor-loads of coal, worth several lakhs of rupees, are collected from the railway wagons.

Huge blocks of coal are being discarded as waste.

The tender for cleaning the rakes was awarded to Sri Guru Raghavendra Enterprises of Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh for Rs 6.72 crore. The three-year contract is from October 19 2023 to October 18, 2026.

The coal from the wagons is stocked elsewhere.

As per the tender, the contractor is allowed to sell the remnant coal in the open market. But huge blocks of coal are being carted out as wastage, raising questions about the involvement of officials. In just one month, about 150 tons of coal has been carted away, it is being alleged.

Each rake has 51 wagons and it is suspected that the siphoned off coal is being sold to smaller units. On receiving information about the coal being siphoned off, officials of the RTPS and YTPS inspected the goings-on on Tuesday morning. They said they will ask the railway authorities also to probe the issue.