CISF on war against coal mafia

By A Staff Reporter: The CISF stepped up the war against the coal mafia in Asansol-Jharkhand belt as they raided over half a dozen places over the last 24 hours and seized 75 metric tonnes of coal from criminals working for the mafia. 

ANM News spoke to CISF officials who took part in the raid and they confirmed that diesel, rollers, motorcycles, cycles were also seized. CISF pegged the total amount of materials seized at RS 4.5 lakhs. The central industrial force upped the ante against illegal mining and coal mafia after senior DIG, CISF, KP Singh carried out a series of inspections and held hour-long meetings with chairman and managing director of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), Satish Jha. 

According to CISF officials, there are 80 mines of ECL of which 23 are open cast mines, 48 are underground and 9 are mixed between open cast and underground. Last year CISF had seized coal and other materials worth Rs 14.2 crores from the mafias. 

Senior CISF officials mentioned that daily raids will continue against illegal smuggling of coal. ``We have been able to demolish organised coal mafia in the ECL area. Of course, there are small time operators and we are bent on taking action against them,'' a senior CISF officer said.