Maoists procuring explosives from Coal India mines

The Maoists guerillas operating in the two eastern states of West Bengal and Jharkhand, have opened a new channel of procuring explosives.

The Union home ministry has recently forwarded a caution report to these two state governments where it was stated that extremist red guerrillas are procuring the explosives used in the coal mines of Coal India Ltd (CIL) subsidiary, Eastern Coal Fields (ECL).

In the report, the Union home ministry has also cautioned that the Maoists have build up a nexus with some mine employees of ECL, with the help of whom they are procuring these explosives used for blasting in ECL.

A special caution has been given to West Bengal, that the industrial townships of Durgapur and Asansol in Burdwan district, which was out of the extremist red clutches in the recent past, are now being regularly visited by top Maoist leaders. According to the report, Durgapur and Asansol being adjacent to the coal mining areas of Ranigunj, is being made the base of procuring explosives by the Maoists.

“At the same time, through these two bases, the Maoists are trying to expand their network among the mining and industrial workers, which has a huge population in the region,” the report has read.

Meanwhile, sources from the West Bengal Intelligence Branch told DNA, that even they had some inputs of Maoists procuring mining explosives from a section of ECL workers.

“Recently, we also nabbed some illegal explosives suppliers with high consignments of mining explosives, gelatin sticks and detonators. Interrogations revealed that all of them were procured illegally from ECL”, a senior IB official said.

He, however, blamed ECL for not maintaining adequate security while transporting the explosives from the ECL stores to the mines. “There is no security deployment during transportation. Instead of closed trucks, the explosives are often carried by motorcycles and cycles. The ECL should take adequate security measures during transportation,” he said.