Date | May 16, 2016:

For ages, walking on fire has remained a mystical, romantic art; but not for the people of Jharia in Jharkhand who have not only mastered the art of treading on fire but, quite literally, live on it daily. Jharia’s coal mines have been smouldering for more than a century and locals here are forced to migrate because the ground is burning beneath them. In 1916, fire started in the coal mines of Jharia and a century later there seems no respite from it.

“Dhanbad’s festivities and active life owe a lot to the fire in Jharia,” a friend suggests while on the journey from Dhanbad to the inferno. “Had there been no fire, nobody would have moved to Dhanbad. Jharia, on the other hand, is dying a slow death.”

As we cross the town and get closer to the burning minefields, gusts of hot wind welcome us. A police patrol car screeches to a halt nearby and a policeman yells from inside, “Who is it?”

“We just came here to see the fire,” we reply.

“Oh, watching the fire? But don’t stay too long, you’ll suffocate,” he warns.

At a short distance is a guesthouse. The dim light shows empty mattresses spread on the floor. “It is just a resting place for people after they return from work,” my friend informs me. It is almost midnight now. “What kind of work?” I am curious.

“Work in coal mines is the only work here,” he replies in the local dialect. “And it goes on 24×7, throughout the year, irrespective of the weather.”

As we move ahead, this giant burning field leads to the open mines area but the path is narrow and huge trucks leave no space for small vehicles to pass. The process of loading trucks with burning coal is horrifying to watch even from a distance.

Eleven villages of Jharia, including Ghanudih, Kukurtopa, Bhagatdih, LUG Peet, Bagdigi, Laltenganj, have been lost to the fire; 4.18 lakh people have been affected by them. According to data provided by the Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL), 1,400 families in Jharia have been displaced during the past six years. Resettlement of the displaced families has cost around 314 crore while 2,311 crore has been spent on putting out the fire. Figures reveal that 8,000-10,000 tonnes of coal is extracted from the fire area daily.

Next morning, we leave for Belgarhia, known as the first colony established under the largest resettlement policy. Around 1,360 displaced families from Jharia have resettled here but they are not satisfied with the facilities provided to them. The colony is located 12-15 km from both Dhanbad and Jharia.

Mohan Bhuiyan, a Belgarhia resident says, “A 9×10 room and a 10×6 verandah is all we have. The space is very small for me, my wife, my parents and my growing son. A lot of discord arises because of the lack of space here. Mohan’s neighbor Mohd Zafar Ali says, “Their claims about resettling Jharia people are huge but do they think that we are immortal? Don’t we need space for carrying out funeral rites, whether of a Muslim or a Hindu? A few days ago, there was some tension here after a Muslim man died. Locals in nearby villages do not allow us to use their burial ground. So we have to travel 25 km for burial. It costs around 1,600 and most of the families cannot afford it.”

“There is no hospital,” another resident Bijender says. “There is one primary health centre (PHC) which remains closed most of the time. Even if they open a school or hospital in the area, what is the use of it? There is no work here. Travelling to Dhanbad or Jharia on one’s own expenses gets even worse for those who find no work for the day. We live in hell.”

There are many like Mohan, Zafar and Bijender. Some of them have turned the toilet into an extra room to make space for one more. This visit to Belgarhia shatters the illusion of the so-called ‘world’s largest resettlement policy’.

Though the fire in Jharia has been raging for over a century, serious discussion on the issue started as late as 1997, after then MP Haradhan Rai filed a PIL in the Supreme Court. Hearing the plea, the apex court had called the Jharia fire a ‘national tragedy’ and ordered formation of a resettlement policy and asked for submission of a report. As a result, Belgarhia came up in a jiffy.

In 2004, the Jharia Resettlement and Development Authority (JRDA) was formed for resettling people from fire and subsidence areas with a master plan to be completed in two phases by 2021. Total cost would be 7,112 crore. Besides, it also includes an expenditure of 23.11 crore for putting out the fire. A survey conducted by JRDA suggests that around 85,000 families or 4.18 lakh people live in the fire and subsidence areas, of whom only 1,360 people have been rehabilitated in Belgarhia.

A BCCL official says on condition of anonymity, “Rehabilitation is not that easy. There are 29,444 families living on their own land in the fire areas while 23,847 live on the BCCL land. We need 2,730 acres of land for rehabilitation but BCCL has been able to provide only 849.68 acres so far. JRDA has acquired only 120.82 acres of land so far.”

Is there no way to prevent the fire from spreading to the town? Many people believe it can be done if there is political will. On a visit to Jharia in 2002, former President APJ Abdul Kalam had reportedly said, “It is not too late yet. We just need more effort in the right direction.” But nothing was done.

A Jharia local, Naval Ojha, says, “Our people have watched the fire and because of it the uprooting of thousands of lives for 100 years. This desolate land was once a hub of activity and home to Bihar’s first cinema hall. Several folk songs are written on Jharia. The fire started in one mine in Bhaura in 1916 which later spread to other mines in surrounding areas. At present it is spread over 70 areas. After Bhaura, it spread to Jogta in 1941, Nadkhurki in 1952, Rajapur in 1956, West Modidih in 1957, and Jogidih and Koeridih in 1965.”

“By the time the fire was reported, private corporations had entered the fray for coal mining. For them, coal mattered. They did not care what happened to the village later. In 1971, hope was restored when coal mining was nationalised. But the government paid no heed to conditions. In fact, the problem worsened,” Naval adds.

In an attempt to put out the fire, the first step was formation of the Mehta committee in 1954. But its findings were brushed under the carpet. In 1978, there was another major attempt to revive the town of Jharia. A team of experts from Poland, along with 40 BCCL officials, visited the area to concretise the plan. The policy included a plan for coal mining and building of new cities at an expenditure calculated at Rs 2,085 crore of which Rs 700 crore was meant only for setting up seven cities. As per the policy, the ­people displaced from Jharia would be resettled in New Jharia city on the northern border of Jharia, Koyla ­Nagar in Dhanbad, Bhuli ­Nagar, ­Munidih, Basta Kala, Rajganj and ­Kumar Mangalam City on the ­southern banks of ­Damodar. The policy gave a ­glimmer of hope but it turned out to be another empty promise. The Polish team returned the same year without achieving any significant goal. In 1983, the ­expenditure of this policy rose to Rs 5,080 crore after the Centre, State and BCCL discussed the implementation of the policy. Twenty-five percent of the expenditure was ­demanded from the state and 50 percent from the Centre but both the governments excused ­themselves by quoting a financial crunch. Meanwhile, by 1985, the expenditure had risen to Rs 9,073 crore of which 3,000 crore was estimated for rehabilitation.

Though burning of coal is a natural process, the way it spread over such a vast area is due to human intervention. “Ask the BCCL administration if they really believe that the town could not have been saved,” says Ojha. “Ask the politicians if they ­really want to rehabilitate people and save Jharia?” In Dhanbad, it seems, politics around “saving ­Jharia” has taken centrestage. But speaking to some of the ‘leaders’ of this movement gives a dismal ­picture. Most of them have not ­visited Jharia even once. Many are interested only in giving a boost to coal mining. For most, it is strictly business.

The coal mafia, on the other hand, opposes shifting and rehabilitation of people from Jharia because for them it is a loss of cheap labor who pick up burning coal with bare hands in exchange for a measly amount. Political leaders worry about their vote bank. Most of the electorate are people who were brought here as cheap labour from Bihar and eastern UP.

According to a report of an American Pittsburgh venture, Jharia is on the verge of a major land subsidence disaster if it is not vacated within the next 10 years and locals know it. They believe that Jharia has the world’s best quality coal available and in order to extract it, the population needs to be displaced which can be done on a large scale only if the fire spreads. It is true that Jharia is home to the best quality coal in the world. Despite 3.17 crore tonne being lost to the fire during the past century, 186 crore tonne is still left there.

THE QUESTION remains: Can the fire really not be extinguished? Former acting director of South Eastern Coal NK Singh, who has studied the matter closely, had suggested that the fire could be tackled by ‘trench cutting’. However, it is not a real solution to the problem. Besides, other methods have been experimented upon like spraying nitrogen over the area but nothing has worked.

Also, since the fire has spread over a vast area, it is no longer easy to tackle the fire. Out of the 158 areas under nine coal companies of the country, 70 are under BCCL’s Jharia alone. Experts claim that out of the 93 billion tonne indigenous proven reserves of coal, only 13 percent is coking coal and the rest thermal coal. Of this, 28 percent is prime coking coal and the rest medium coking coal. A major constraint in the growth of Indian steel industry is the unavailability of prime coking coal. As per the present planning, the current coking coal production of eight million tonnes will be increased to 18 million tonnes by 2024-25 against the steel industry’s projected ­demand of 97 million tonnes.

A BCCL official claims that shifting people is part of BCCL’s action plan to meet the projected demand of coal which is done by letting the fire spread. “Wait and watch how they force the people to leave,” say some Jharia residents. “Slowly they are going to snatch away all means of living from the town and force Jharia people to move out.”

Amit Raja, who has authored the book Jharia Mein Aag, says, “First, they blocked rail transport by claiming that the railways were under threat [of fire]. They immediately ­began coal extraction once the movement of trains stopped. Now, they are making similar claims about the National Highway and it is going to meet the same fate as the railways. Their priority is not rehabilitation but coal mining. Once you meet the people shifted and rehabilitated in Belgarhia you will believe it.”

BCCL has now outsourced workers and equipment to private players for digging and loading. The aim of the private companies is to extract an increasing amount of coal, for which they are ready to go to any lengths, which includes allowing the fear of the blaze in people to build and the coal to keep smouldering. Jharia locals allege that most of the private companies have been headed by BCCL officials retired from senior posts. It is alleged that during their tenure in the BCCL they secure contracts with private companies and after retirement join these organisations on senior posts.

A nexus between BCCL officials, the police and the mafia thrives. Companies do not follow a scientific methodology. Coal is extracted by carrying out arbitrary blasts in mines. Keeping a check on fire is not on their agenda.

When contacted for comment on the issue of mining and rehabilitation, the BCCL CMD office passed the buck to JRD and vice versa. When asked about the action plan and meeting the cost of implementation, old data records of the BCCL were handed over which state that the holding company of BCCL — Coal India Ltd — has been collecting Rs 6 per tonne from its coal extracting units for the past three years. At this rate, the BCCL collects Rs 400 crore each year. The production cost on each type of coal (coking and non-coking) is Rs 10 per tonne which was Rs 3.5 per tonne for non-coking and Rs 4.25 per tonne for coking coal earlier. It is estimated to add Rs 240 crore to the total collection per year. The BCCL claims that this amount will be used for establishing a new Jharia.

(Source: http://www.tehelka.com/)