Chhatak sleeper plant stays closed most of the time

The country's lone state-run concrete sleeper plant at Chhatak in Sunamganj has remained inoperative for most of the year.

Mechanical faults and a raw materials crisis are said to be the main reasons for the shutdown of production at the factory. 

The factory resumed operation on 5 October after remaining closed for 19 months, but 10 days after the reopening, production stopped again due to what the authorities said a lack of raw materials. 

The plant has not run for a 12-month stretch in the last five years.

In the last decade, a few more sleeper factories have mushroomed in the country on private initiatives. Former railway officials are the entrepreneurs of these production houses.

There are allegations that the Chhatak plant is repeatedly shut just to give opportunities to private companies. 

However, those concerned with the state-run factory have denied such allegations.

According to sources, the plant was set up under the railway in 1978 and production started from 26 October that year.

At first, 264 sleepers used to be produced daily at the factory. At present, it has the capacity to produce 50,000 sleepers a year.

According to officials and employees of the plant, cement, stone and sand are the key ingredients for making concrete sleepers. Chhatak is also home to the country's only state-owned cement factory.

High quality stones and sand are also found here. That is why the government set up the concrete sleeper plant at Chhatak.

However, the main raw materials of the sleepers are steel rods and insert steel sheets imported from India.

Since its inception, the state-run factory had been going through production, but started going into closure repeatedly due to "various problems" since 2000. In 2012, it was closed for almost a year.

It was closed again for almost a year from March 2014. 

The plant has remained inoperative at least ten times, under various pretexts, and every time it remains closed for a long time.
 
Last February, Railway Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan inspected the plant at Chhatak and announced its speedy resumption of activities. 

A worker at the plant, who did not want to be named, said the railway authorities are hardly interested in the factory. As a result, the factory is shut citing trivial reasons.

The quality of the sleepers produced is not monitored much. Once a lucrative sleeper factory, it is now on the list of lost projects of Bangladesh Railways.

Chhatak Railway Assistant Executive Engineer Kazi Habib Ullah, who is also in charge of the plant, said the plant is very old. So, occasionally technical errors occur here that require an overhaul. 

"Besides, the railways do not have sufficient manpower, so we look to contractors," he added.

Many a time, workers are not available, and also there is a raw materials crisis due to which production has come to a grinding halt, he explained.

He claimed that steps have been taken by the railways to ensure uninterrupted production at the factory.

Kazi Habib Ullah said production could not start this year due to the novel coronavirus, and after being closed for a long time, some mechanical problems have also surfaced.