Jharia minefire: fresh survey ordered on number of families

Union Coal Secretary Indrajit Singh today said a fresh survey of families living in the coal mine fire zone of Jharia would be conducted for shifting the affected people to safe places.

The Dhanbad deputy commissioner has been directed to complete the new survey in three months and the rehabilitation work would begin after getting the actual numbers of families, Singh told reporters here.

In the 2004 survey, 56000 families were identified, but the number of families were found to have been mounted to 1.25 lakh in the 2009 survey, official sources said.

Stating that the rise in the number of families in just five years was 'abnormal', the then coal secretary had raised objection to the rehabilitation process in 2013 and since then the shifting was stuck, the sources said.

Singh said the rehabilitation plan has been affected by land problem and the deputy commissioner was directed to acquire land for construction of quarters.

Underground mine fire has been raging in Jharia for about a century and the administration has declared some areas as unsafe due to frequent incidences of subsidences. Several deaths were also reported because of subsidences.

Jharia coalfield comes under the Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).

The coal secretary also ruled out revival of 34 km long Dhanbad-Chandrapura railway route of the East Central Railway that has been closed since June 15, 2017 due to the underground mines fire.

"No risk could be taken on safety of passengers. the DGMS and rail safety officers have been asked to assess the situation," said Singh who was here to attend the 16th meeting of the High Power Committee (HPC) on Jharia Master Plan for rehabilitation of the fire zone people.

Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sudhir Tripathi, BCCL Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Kumar Singh, Director General of Mines Safety (DGMS) officials also attended the HPC meeting.

The coal secretary and the chief secretary also visited the fire affected areas of Jharia.