Chief Minister Raghubar Das has assured all his support for the new township in Dhanbad and said that land will be provided as soon as possible for the laying down new line in the area. Das was speaking during a meeting held at Project Building in Ranchi with Union Coal Secretary Sushil Kumar after he returned from Jharia.
Kumar along with Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma and other senior officers of the State Government had gone to Jharia to take stock of the situation of the rehabilitation programme in the area. The meeting was attended by Rural Development Minister Nilkanth Singh Munda, Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Coal Vivek Bharadwaj and CCl CMD Gopal Singh.
“Plans will be made by taking help of professionals for rehabilitating people in the new township and we are planning to start the work on ground by mid-August,” said the CM. The CM also stressed on starting skill development centre and starting bus service in the area.
Earlier, the Chief Secretary while talking to the media persons in Jharia said that shifting was essential if life and property had to be protected in the area. She also said that the process of rehabilitation has to be expedited.
“Discussion will also take place, why people were not ready for rehabilitation and steps will be taken in this regard,” said the CS. Union Coal Secretary Sushil Kumar also said that the people living in the danger zone of underground fire in Jharia would have to be shifted at any cost.
“The government cannot let the people die in subsidence due to underground fire and would make all efforts to rehabilitate them in safe places, said Kumar.
Kumar also urged the residents of Ghanudih Basti, considered the most dangerous area of Jharia coalfield under Bharat Coking Coal limited (BCCl), to cooperate with the authorities for their proper rehabilitation.
The coal secretary, who was accompanied by Jharkhand Chief Secretary Raj Bala Verma, also made it clear that the affected people would be rehabilitated on the basis of the 2009 survey of the area.
Unsafe and illegal mining has led to fires in coal deposits under the surface of the Jharia coalfields, which span over 160 square kilo meters which is now posing a risk to the population living on the surface and may lead to cave-ins and gas spills.
While the first major fire was noticed in 1916 and various reports and studies have sounded the alarm over the years, authorities began seeking a comprehensive solution only in the early 2000s. Officials maintain that Bharat Coking Coal limited (BCCl), a subsidiary of Coal India limited, inherited a troubled legacy when the mines were nationalised in the early 1970s.
Most of the affected mines date back even before Independence and nationalization of coal mines, when the thrust was on production and profit, with little regard for safety.