At least four persons were reported dead and around half a dozen injured as the roof of a mine partially collapsed at Kaparasa mines under Nirsa police station of Dhanbad district—200 km west of State capital.
Sources said that the incident occurred when some persons had entered the mine for carrying out illegal mining activities. The place where the incident occurred is fifty metres away from the mines which the Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited, has outsourced to private company, Kanta Transport.
Sources claim that four deaths have been reported, including three men and one woman, of which Dinesh Paswan and Kanto Rawani were identified while two remain unidentified. However, officials claim only one death.
Dhanbad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Kishore Kaushal said, “The incident occurred at the mines where illegal mining was being carried out. We have reports of death of one person. However, the exact number of deaths can be ascertained once the rescue operation is completed.”
The SSP also said that as illegal mining was carried out in the area, FIR will be lodged against the ECL and the outsourced company (Kanta Transport).
Kaushal said, “There has been negligence on part of the company as they fail to follow necessary safety mining guidelines. Neither there was fencing in the area nor red flag installed.”
As per mining guidelines, the company carrying out mining activates must fenced the protected area along with installing signboards and flags, also regular patrolling should be carried out in the area.
The ECL too claimed that incident occurred where illegal mining was being carried out. Niladri Rai, technical secretary to ECL, CMD said, “The incident occurred at the mines where some people were carrying out illegal mining.”
As the news of mines mishap spread, officials from district administration including Dhanbad DC Anjaneyulu Dodde, SSP Kishore Kaushal, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Aman Kumar, Sub Divisional Officer Raj Maheshwaram and other officials rushed to the spot.
Sources said that the incident occurred in the morning when around fifty to sixty persons illegally entered the mines for carrying out mining activities. More than dozen people were trapped when a portion of the mine suddenly caved in following which the local residents carried out rescue operations. As the mining was being done illegally, the local residents were afraid of revealing the names of the deceased and injured persons.
Coal capital Dhanbad has witnessed many mining accidents in past and in majority of them the incident occurs due to illegal mining activities. Sources said that despite district administration and ECL’s claims to check illegal mining many persons are engaged in unlawful activities.
Many people are in coal smuggling business selling the black stone to Jamtara and other adjoining districts crossing river Barakar. Coal is also smuggled to some factories operating in Dhanbad and Nirsa area.