Compensation increased to rehabilitate affected people in Barapukuria

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The government has increased compensation for the affected people in Barapukuria coalmine areas by Tk 240 million (24 crore) to set up the proposed coalmine city in Dinajpur.
Earlier, the government had announced a Tk 3.0 billion compensation package to rehabilitate the affected in the Barapukuria coalmine areas. With the additional allocation of compensation, the total amount of compensation would be Tk 3.24 billion, according to the energy ministry.
"We are set to extract one million tonnes of coal from this field. So we need to acquire more areas that would necessitate to increase the amount of compensation", a top official of the energy ministry told the news agency.
This amount will be used to rehabilitate the affected families in next three years (2010-2013) in different areas, including Dinajpur.
The government has a plan to install a 100 MW power plant (Bartapukuria-3) here and that is why it has set to extract more coal from the field.
At present the Barapukuria coalmine is producing 0.88 million tonnes of coal to run two power plants of Power Development Board (PDB).
To establish the proposed coalmine city in Dinajpur, the Energy Ministry started the pre-feasibility work in Dinajpur from June, 2009.
Following the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) signed by the affected people of Barapukuria coal mine areas and Barapukuria Mining Authority and Local Government, the Energy Ministry has asked the Finance Ministry to allocate the amount of compensation to implement the package.
"The Finance Ministry has allocated this amount for rehabilitation and land acquisition purpose in Barapukuria coal mining areas. Some NGOs are working there to implement the package", Energy Secretary M Mohsin said earlier.