A village in the Jharia fire zone

Dhanbad, Feb. 8: Residents, chambers of commerce and lawyers of Jharia are coming together to save the coal mining town plagued by a raging underground fire, fed up of the short-sightedness of coal companies to the continuing threat of illegal as well indiscriminate mining.

As a first step, representatives of Jharia Coal Field Bachao Samiti (JCBS), Federation of Dhanbad Zilla Chamber of the Commerce (FDZCC) and Dhanbad Bar Association have joined hands to hold a seminar and meeting in Jharia on February 14 to discuss various aspects of the problem, including the proposed diversion of NH-32 passing through Kendua, Karkend, Putki, Mahuda and other areas of the district.

Samiti secretary Madan Lal Khanna said it was high time for citizens to wage a coordinated fight. “We need to put things in the right perspective instead of carrying out with separate struggles which weakens the voice of opposition.”

He said rehabilitation of the local population out of the fire zone would be discussed in the light of the earlier Supreme Court ruling on the issue.

“None other than the BCCL is responsible for the subsidence and underground fire beneath NH-32,” alleged Khanna and asked why residents were being made to pay a price for the company’s unscientific mining activities.

He alleged that not only the highway, railway lines passing through Bhaga Bhowra and Katras had also been adversely hit due to the unplanned mining of BCCL.

Vice-president of Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FJCCI) Rajiv Sharma, who was also general secretary of the Dhanbad Zilla Chamber of Commerce, said more than 15 lakh people would have to be moved out of Jharia.

Alleging that BCCL was ill equipped to handle the crisis, he said: “When 400-odd people of Bokapahari could not be rehabilitated in the last two years, how can 15 lakh people be resettled.”