A big crater that has been created in a residential area in Talcher due to mining activity. Telegraph picture

Cuttack, Oct. 15: Orissa High Court has fixed a three-week deadline for Mahanadi Coalfields Limited to file its version on a petition seeking protection to the lives and properties of residents of the Talcher municipal area.

Former councillor of the Talcher Municipality Purna Chandra Sahu, 64, filed the petition. The petition sought an interim direction to the company to start a survey of each household under the municipality and insure their lives and properties by group insurance from their earnings.

Sahu filed the PIL nearly eight years ago, seeking direction for formation of an expert committee to assess the danger posed to the town due to non-filling of sand after underground mining for coal, percolation of water and generation of methane gas inside the coal mine tunnels.

The PIL had since languished till it came up yesterday, along with the fresh petition, filed by way of an amendment petition.

“Though the high court had issued notices to the Union coal ministry, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited and the state government in October 2006, none has come with a reply as of yet. Taking note of it, the division bench of Chief Justice Amitava Roy and Justice A.K. Rath posted the matter for hearing after three weeks, along with the company’s counter affidavit, both to the PIL and the fresh petition,” petitioner counsel S.K. Sangneria told The Telegraph today.

The PIL was filed based on a letter sent by the director of mines and safety Rakesh Kulsrestha to the Angul collector on the threat posed to the surface structure of Talcher due to unstable workings of the Deulbera underground colliery. The letter had asked the collector to ensure that no further construction took place above the northern parts of the town.

The PIL dwelled on subsiding of strata and potholing in several places across Talcher, particularly in the Hat-tota area due to the non-filling of sand after coal extraction from the mines.Hat-tota area is a prime business centre of the town where the civil court, banks, office of sub-collector, one college and one school are located.

The non-filling of sand after closing mining had also led to waterlogging and percolation of water in underground tunnels that run 220ft below the surface of the town. Consequently, there had been emission of methane gas that is highly combustible and explosive in nature, the PIL contends.