Coal ministry directs for fresh study of underground fire

A team of mines and fire experts would conduct fresh study on the status of the underground fire in the Dhanbad-Chandrapur railway line in Dhanbad Division of East Central Railway.
Ministry of coal has ordered Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) to constitute the joint committee of mine and fire experts of different institutions to probe fresh status of fire under railway track of Dhanbad-Chandrapura (DC) railway line.
The ministry has also directed Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) to bear the cost of study, BCCL sources said today.
BCCL has written a letter to Central Institute of Mines and Fuel Research (CIMFR) Dhanbad to give details about the cost in conducting the study on the status of the fire near railway line.

Technical director of BCCL Deval Ganguli admitted that on the directive of ministry of Coal, fresh study of the status of fire under Dhanbad-Chandrapur railway line would be conducted.
"CIMFR has been directed to prepare DPR so that joint team of experts could conduct fresh study," he said.

The joint team would include experts of IIT, Indian School of Mines (ISM), CIMFR, BCCL and DGMS, sources said.
The experts team would probe the danger level of underground fire near the railway track and how it could be checked. The reports would be sent to ministry of Coal.
Railway Board after receiving reports of DGMS closed 34 km long Dhanbad-Chandrapura railway line from June 25.

The DGMS in its reports had pointed out that line was unsafe for train movement as underground mines fire had reached alarming level near 14 km of Dhanbad-Chandrapura railway line.
Following the report of the DGMS, around 26 trains have either been cancelled or diverted.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das had met Railway minister for revival of the DC railway line.
Katras Citizen Forum has been staging dharna at Katrasgarh rail station against the closure of railway line since June 25.