Doublespeak

India plans a framework to rehabilitate communities around abandoned mines while also exploring the possibility of resuming mining in them

- SHUCHITA JHA

WE BREATHE fire every day, says Sadan Kumar Paswan. The ground around his house is filled with crevices that emit smoke. Whenever it rains, noxious gases and steam envelop the colony, making it difficult to breathe, he adds.

The 37-year-old lives in Jharkhand's Gopinathpur Pahadi Basti, one of India's few rehabilitation colonies for retired coal mine employees. The colony was built in 2010 by refilling a part of the Gopinathpur open coal mine that was operational till 2020, when groundwater flooded the pits.

"The refilling was not done properly and the mining company, Eastern Coalfields, did not even bother to inform us that there is a blazing fire under the ground that feeds on the coal reserves and cannot be extinguished," says Paswan.

When Down to Earth (DTE) visited the colony in early May, all 60 houses had cracked walls and ceilings. The residents say cracks are a recurring problem in the area as the ground sags every time it rains because of poor refilling.

"Nobody knows how big the fire is, but the smoke is increasing every year. The company recently started sending us eviction notices to vacate the colony, but we do not have any other place to go," says Paswan, who travels 60 km every day to work at a private bank in Dhanbad, the coal capital of India.

The mining company maintains that the colony is safe and that it has not issued eviction notices. "I have visited the colony and there is no problem of underground fire there," says J P Gupta, director (technical), Eastern Coalfields.

The colony also lacks basic civic amenities. Residents say they travel more than 1.5 km every day to the nearest natural stream to fetch water as they do not have piped water connections. They cannot access groundwater because of the fire. Electricity is also available for only 8-10 hours a day.