BJP legislature party leader Babulal Marandi has demanded a CBI probe into Tuesday's mine cave-in in Dhanbad that killed at least five persons and called for a thorough investigation into "the organised plunder of underground resources in the coal town under the administration’s watch".
Talking to reporters on Thursday after returning from a tour mining sites at Gopinathpur, Kapasada and Dahibara in Nirsa and Baliapur areas respectively, the former chief minister said that the death toll was much higher than what had been announced by the district administration. Eastern Coalfields (ECL) owns mines at Gopinath and Kapasada while Bharat Coking Coal (BCCL) runs operations at Dahibara.
On Tuesday, February 1, a mine cave-in during illegal excavation by local labourers led to several casualties, alleged local residents. But on Thursday, the district administration put the death toll at five at Gopinathpur.
“Based on our field visits to the mishap sites, I can say confidently that figures of the deceased are much more. Local residents told me that after the mishap, rescue operations didn’t begin till 12-14 hours," Marandi alleged. "By doing so, the administration deliberately gave ample time to the local coal mafia, who engaged poor labourers in illegal work, to hide the bodies. Therefore, it is no surprise that the administration is trying its best to keep the official death figures low to avoid accountability,” he said.
Marandi said that in Dhanbad, illegal mining was an open secret, but was carried out in an organised manner. He alleged that the local administration patronised the local coal mafia. "The state government is also patronising such activities. Everyone, be it local police, officials and security personnel of mining companies, have fixed cuts,” he alleged.
According to initial reports, at least three persons died in Gopinathpur and many were feared trapped following the cave-in of a coal block. The mishap at Kapasada was due to a roof cave-in of a mine with several persons stuck inside it, local residents claimed. At the C Patch (a mining site outsourced to a private contractor) of Dahibara colliery eight persons were trapped due to a roof collapse caused by illegal mining.
But a day later, the Dhanbad district administration confirmed the deaths of five persons in Gopinathpur only and denied that any accident had occurred in the other two areas.