Stone extraction shut at Madhyapara mine

The authorities announced an indefinite suspension of all extraction activities from Thursday morning.

The stone extraction operations from Madhyapara Stone Mine located at Parbatipur upazila in Dinajpur district have been shut for an indefinite period of time.

The authorities announced an indefinite suspension of all extraction activities from Thursday morning due to reduced sales of manufactured stone and lack of storage space.

It was known that the mining contractor Germania Trust Consortium (GTC) had been lifting about 5,000 tons of stone daily in three shifts from underground for a long time. About 50,000 to 60,000 tons of stone are sold from the mine against the production of 1.5 lakh tons of stone per month. As a result, the stock of unsold stone in the quarry yard is constantly increasing. For some time, apart from the yard, the people concerned continued the production by stockpiling stones in the residential area of the mine. A huge stockpile of about one million tons of stone of various sizes has been built up in the present mine yard.

In a notice on Wednesday, the authorities cited the fact that they could not arrange space to store the stones, and besides stopping the lifting operations, around five hundred workers engaged in the production work were given indefinite leave by the contracting company GTC.

Madhyapara Mining Managing Director (MD) Abu Dawood Muhammad Fariduzzaman confirmed the news.