The Hindu : National : Coal fires spread, but under control

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Saturday, Jan 05, 2008
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Coal fires spread, but under control

Special Correspondent

KOLKATA: The coal fires raging in illegal pits of abandoned mines in Asansol spread to Nimcha on Friday, but this has now been controlled.

The mines that were abandoned after nationalisation of the coal industry were opened illegally and surface coal was being extracted and sold locally. However, exposing the surface in this manner could be dangerous at times, as was proved when fires broke out on the night of December 31-January 1 over a large area.

Eastern Coalfields Ltd. (ECL), under whose command the area falls, has been dumping raw earth into the pits using heavy earth-moving equipment to control the fires by cutting off oxygen.

Local MP Bangsagopal Chowdhury of the CPI(M) told The Hindu that the fire spread to Nimcha this morning, but it was controlled by the evening.

The first fires had broken out in the Benali-Satgram colliery area. To questions about major fissures appearing on the surface, he said a safety channel was dug by the ECL when a similar fire broke out about eight years ago. Other than this, there was no major fissure, he said.

Mr. Chowdhury said that there was no immediate danger to the villages nearby. There were reports that some panic-stricken villagers were leaving their homes, as the mines continued to spew dark smoke.

The ECL, which was already behind its 2007-08 production targets, is set to suffer further setbacks since it is forced to use its heavy earthmoving mining equipment for non-productive purposes.

The National Highway 2 is about a kilometre away from the fires and an oil pipeline belonging to the Indian Oil Corporation also passes through this area.

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