The production at Barapukuria Coal Mine started again in Dinajpur after being suspended on August 1 as another 16 workers tested positive for Covid-19.
“This time the mine has gone into partial production, not experimental,” said Managing Director Saiful Islam Sarkar on Monday afternoon.
“Coal production has started from 6pm on Saturday. As many as 750 metric tons of coal were extracted that day and 950 metric tons on Sunday. The mine will go into full production in the next 15-20 days. In that case, we expect that 2,000 to 2,200 metric tons of coal can be extracted every day,” he added.
The authorities said that coal production will start in full swing within the next 15-20 days.
According to coal mine sources, the mining of coal at Barapukuria was stopped on April 30 due to the depletion of reserves from phase number 1310.
The phase was later declared abandoned.
The authorities have started the process of coal extraction from phase number 1306 by shifting the usable equipment of the abandoned phase and installing new equipment.
Earlier, coal mining was started experimentally on the morning of July 27. In the meantime, some workers of the mine were diagnosed with Covid-19.
Later, the authorities stopped the mining again on August 1.
