Jharia coalfield

Jharia coalfield
Jharia coalfield is located in Jharkhand
Jharia coalfield
Location within Jharkhand
Location
ProductsCoking coal

Jharia coalfield is a large coal field located in the east of India in Jharia, Dhanbad, Jharkhand. Jharia represents the largest coal reserves in India having estimated reserves of 19.4 billion tonnes of coking coal.[1] The coalfield is an important contributor to the local economy, employing much of the local population either directly or indirectly.[2]

The fields have suffered a coal bed fire since at least 1916, resulting in 37 millions tons of coal consumed by the fire, and significant ground subsidence and water and air pollution in local communities including the city of Jharia. The resulting pollution has led to a government agency designated for moving local populations, however, little progress has been made in the relocation.

Coal field

The coal field lies in the Damodar River Valley, and covers about 110 square miles (280 square km), and produces bituminous coal suitable for coke. Most of India's coal comes from Jharia. Jharia coal mines are India's largest store[1] of prime coke coal used in blast furnaces, it consists of 23 large underground and nine large open cast mines.[3]

History

The mining activities in these coalfields started in 1894 and had really intensified by 1925. The first Indians to arrive and break monopoly of British in coal mining were Gujarati railway contractors from Kutch[4][5] some of whom decided to plunge into the coal mining business and were thus the pioneers in starting coal mining in Jharia coalfields belt around 1890–95.[4][5] In Jharia-Dhanbad belt Seth Khora Ramji was the first Indian to break monopoly of Europeans and founded Khas Jharia, Golden Jharia, Fatehpur, Balihari, Khas Jeenagora, East Bagatdih Collieries with his brothers between 1894 and 1910. In Pure Jharia Colliery Khora Ramji and brothers were partners with Diwan Bahadur D.D. Thacker.[5] [6] [7] [8][9] The Encyclopaedia of Bengal, Bihar & Orissa (1920) by British Gazetteer mentions about Seth Khora Ramji as under :-

..at that time (in 1890s) the Jharia coal fields were being exploited by Europeans and Seth Khora Ramji was first Indian to seize the opportunity. He purchased two collieries to begin with. Gradually others from Kutch and Gujarat followed suit and now Jharia has been changed into a Gujarati settlement with about 50 Kutchi out of 92 Gujarati collieries proprietors with Seth Khora Ramji as head of them all. He is now sole proprietor of two collieries and a financing member of about eight collieries. Several district officials have remarked him as multi-millionaire, one of the first class parties in Jharia.

The Gujarati migrants, majority of whom from Kutch,[5] took on lease the coal mining fields from Raja of Jharia at various locations to start collieries at Khas Jharia, Jamadoba, Balihari, Tisra, Katrasgarh, Kailudih, Kusunda, Govindpur, Sijua, Sijhua, Loyabad, Joyrampur, Bhaga, Matadih, Mohuda, Dhansar, Bhuli, Bermo, Mugma, Chasnala-Bokaro, Bugatdih, Putki, Pandibri, Rajapur, Jeenagora, Gareria, Chirkunda, Bhowrah, Sinidih, Kendwadih, Dumka, etc.[5][10] [11]

Coal field fire

Jharia coal mine with smoke and burning embers coming from the underground coal field fire. The fire has burned for o ver a century and displaced or endangered the health of hundreds of thousands of people.[12][13][14]

Jharia is famous for its coal field fire that has burned underground for over a century. In 2007 it was estimated that 37 million tons of coal had been consumed by the fires since their start.[15][14]

The first fire was detected in 1916 at Bhowrah colliery owned by Eastern Coal Co Limited.[16][3][17] Since then a number of fires have occurred in U/G, Opencast and in OCM debris. Due to unscientific mining underground fire spread to other mines[18]

According to records, almost fifteen years later after first fire incident occurred at Bhowrah Colliery owned by Eastern Coal Company, one of the major mines which collapsed due to underground fire was the Khas Jharia mines of Seth Khora Ramji (1860–1924), who was a pioneer of Indian coal mines. His Khas Jharia mine was one of the first to collapse in underground fire in 1930. Two of his collieries, Khas Jharia and Golden Jharia, which worked on maximum 260-foot-deep shafts,[19] collapsed due to underground fires, in which their house and bungalow also collapsed, on 8 November 1930, causing 18 feet subsidence and widespread destruction.[6][8][19][5][20][21] The fire has been burning ever since, despite sincere efforts by mines department and railway authorities and in 1933 flaming crevasses lead to exodus of many residents.[19] The 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake led to further spread of fire and by 1938 the authorities had declared that there is raging fire beneath the town with 42 collieries out of 133 on fire.[22]

In 1972, more than 70 mine fires were reported in this region. As of 2007, more than 400,000 people who live in Jharia are living on land in danger of subsidence due to the fires, and according to Satya Pratap Singh, "Jharia township is on the brink of an ecological and human disaster".[12] The government has been criticized for a perceived lackadaisical attitude[23] towards the safety of the people of Jharia.[24] Heavy fumes emitted by the fires[25] lead to severe health problems such as breathing disorders and skin diseases among the local population.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 "Coal in India" (PDF). ibm.nic.in. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  2. ↑ Pai, Sandeep; Carr-Wilson, Savannah (2018). Total Transition: The Human Side of the Renewable Energy Revolution. Rocky Mountain Books. ISBN 978-1-77160-248-8.
  3. 1 2 "Jharia to be shifted".
  4. 1 2 Census of India, 1981: Bihar. Series 4. Controller of Publications – Bihar. 1981. p. 22. It was the existence of coal that first attracted the railway authority to extend the railways and with them came the Gujrati people as an expert railway contractor with an experience of railway construction work at Thana. They then met Raja of Jharia and purchased some having underneath vast wealth in shape of coal
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Diary of Golden Days at Jharia – A Memoir & History of Gurjar Kashtriya Samaj of Kutch in Coalfields of Jharia – written by Natwarlal Devram Jethwa of Calcutta/Sinugra compiled by Raja Pawan Jethwa: 1998
  6. 1 2 Playne, Somerset; Bond, J. W.; Wright, Arnold (26 June 1917). "Bengal and Assam, Behar and Orissa : their history, people, commerce and industrial resources". London : Foreign and Colonial Compiling and Publishing Co. – via Internet Archive.
  7. ↑ "The Secretary Of State For India vs Ambalal Khora on 11 December, 1944". indiankanoon.org.
  8. 1 2 Simeon, Dilip (26 June 1995). "The Politics of Labour Under Late Colonialism: Workers, Unions, and the State in Chota Nagpur, 1928-1939". Manohar – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ Encyclopedia of Bengal, Bihar & Orissa by British Authorities – 1920 : People from the region : Life sketch of Seth Khora Ramji Chawra noted in 1920
  10. ↑ "Coking Coal Nationalisation Act of 1972" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 March 2012.
  11. ↑ "Coal Mines Nationalization Act, 1973" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  12. 1 2 "Hindustan Times, 15 December 2007".
  13. 1 2 "India Together: In the line of fire - 13 November 2006". archive.ph. 15 April 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  14. 1 2 Stracher, Glenn B. (2007). "Coal fires burning around the world: Opportunity for innovative and interdisciplinary research" (PDF). GSA Today. 17 (11): 36. doi:10.1130/GSAT01711GW.1. ISSN 1052-5173.
  15. ↑ "The Human Cost Of India's Push to Produce More Coal". Yale E360. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  16. ↑ Rout, Satyasundar Barik & Biswaranjan (4 January 2020). "Breathing fire | On hot coals at Jharia coal fields". The Hindu. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  17. ↑ Transactions of the Mining, Geological and Metallurgical Institute of India. The Institute. 1929. pp. 6, 8. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  18. ↑ "PB AREA- BCCL JHARIA". Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  19. 1 2 3 Amin, Samir; Amin, Shahid; Linden, Marcel van der (1997). Peripheral Labour: Studies in the History of Partial Proletarianization edited by Shahid Amin, Marcel van der Linden. Cambridge University Press. p. 83. ISBN 9780521589000.
  20. ↑ Nanji Bapa ni Nondh-pothi published in Gujarati in year 1999 from Vadodara. It is a diary of Railway Contracts done by KGK community noted by Nanji Govindji Tank of Jamshedpur, compiled by Dharsibhai Jethalal Tank, Tatanagar. (Aank Sidhhi awarded to book by Kutch Shakti at Mumbai in 2000): Life Sketch of Seth Khora Ramji Chawra Page :76
  21. ↑ Dilip Simeon. The Politics of Labour Under Late Colonialism: Workers, Unions, and the State in Chota Nagpur, 1928–1939. p. 160. The Jharia underground fire still raging first came to notice in November, 1930 with subsidence at Seth Khora Ramji's Khas Jharia Colliery(Page 159). He was told that Seth Khora Ramji, whose mines lay underneath Jharia, had chosen to live in his house, which also collapsed in subsidence
  22. ↑ Searchlight, 24 January 1936.
  23. ↑ The Jharia mine fire control technical assistance project: an analysis, April 2004[link removed]
  24. ↑ "Inside Coal Mine Fires", a documentary, 2005
  25. ↑ "Estimation of Gas Emissions from Shallow Subsurface Coal Fires in Jharia Coalfield, India, Using FLIR Data and Coal Fire Gas Analysis". gsa.confex.com.

Bibliography

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