BHOPAL: More than 23,000 metric tonnes of coal worth crores have vanished from secured premises of state-owned thermal power plants of Madhya Pradesh in just three months.Records with TOI show at thermal power plants, particularly Amarkantak Thermal Power Plant and Sanjay Gandhi Thermal Power Plant, thousands of metric tonnes of coal went missing in just one night.In the intervening night of June 30 and July 1, at least 11,581 metric tonnes of coal vanished from these two plants. Again 6,487 metric tonnes of coal went missing between July 30 and August 1. Again between August 31 and September 1, at least 5,365 metric tonnes of coal vanished. The trend continued for three months.Sources said even if the average price of Rs 850/tonne is considered, 23,433 metric tonnes of coal which went missing in three months is worth Rs 2 crore. And if transportation, loading, unloading and other miscellaneous costs are added up, the figure goes past Rs 3.5 crore, said sources.Officials of MP Genco said stocking losses at plants is well within prescribed limits of Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission. “Annual losses at both Amarkantak and Sanjay Gandhi Thermal Power Plants are below 0.8% of stocks at Amarkantak and around 0.67% at Sanjay Gandhi plant,” managing director of MP Genco, V Nanavati said.“Physical verification of coal stocks is done on a monthly basis and there could be changes. If there are huge gaps in stocks, we will probe the issue and take appropriate action,” said Nanavati.