Coal stock not affected by fire, says MCL

In the face of allegations of negligence by Mahanadi Coalfield Limited which led to land slide and subsequent fire mishap at Ananta coal mine at Talcher, the MCL authorities have clarified that the fire has in no way affected coal stock in the mine and is limited to spluttered portion of coal which was exposed to atmosphere due to land slide.

Meanwhile, large scale quenching work is in progress and the MCL officials were confident that the fire will be put out in day or two.

A company press release said, on December 30 the haul road of Ananta OCP (Open Cast Project) went down because of sliding of OB (overburden) dump on which the road was made.

Before four days of the actual land slide, cracks had developed on the haul road making it unsafe. Keeping this in view, the road was blocked from December 27. Besides, security personnel were also deployed to dissuade people from using the road.

The release further said, generally, after the mining is completed, backfilling is done on the excavated area and in this case a thickness of coal was left out for retention of the OB dump. But the retention wall gave way due to the land slide.

It is common that whenever coal strata is open to air there is a possibility of fire due to spontaneous heating. Because of the splutter of coal owing to the land slide, the fire which was inside became exposed and spread to the fragmented smaller pieces of coal because of natural movements.

The release said, when any sliding occurs, immediate employment of the machines is avoided to carry out any work including control of fire as the sliding mass is unstable and unsafe for carrying out any activity.

After observing the situation for one to two days, when the area stabilized, the team for quenching the fire has been deployed, the release added.