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** <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/contact.htm> <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/forum> Danger looms on NH-33 off Ranchi. The road can cave in anytime as several tunnels have been dug beneath the highway near Hesagarha on Mandu Ghati in Hazaribag by illegal coal miners. With thousands of vehicles crossing these points, the road has developed cracks . Apparently, the tunnels have their origin in an open quarry of Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) that was abandoned a few years ago. Illegal miners or coal thieves have been digging these up for years with the result that many of these underground passes pose a significant threat to blacktop road. One of the miners, Jairam Singh, told TOI that a few hundred families depend on this abandoned quarry and have found a rich seam of coal beneath the highway. "Once we found the layer of coal we understood that the stock will last several months," said Rameshwar Bedia, another miner, without any visible concern for what his activity might lead to. CCL has sought the help of Australian experts and Indian mine planners to find a solution so that road subsidence — at the present rate inevitable — can be prevented. "In the first phase, we have closed the mouth of the tunnels so that no more coal mining can be done," said R K Saha, CCL director, technical (projects) adding that in the next phase Australian experts are going to bore holes on the road and fill them up with sand or fly ash. Saha, however, admitted that a detailed study of the extension of the tunnels' dimensions hasn't been carried out. "It's risky to survey the illegally excavated mines because the roof may cave in any time," he said. Saha also added that Ranchi-based Central Mine Planning and Designing Institute has come up with a Rs 8.5-lakh project in which fly ash from Patratu thermal power station could be used to fill up the tunnels as an interim arrangement. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Illegal_coal_mining_may_damage _Ranchi_NH/articleshow/3154750.cms Frightening fire in illegal mines in Asansol A frightening fire engulfed seven illegal coal mines in Asansol in Bengal. Flames leapt to a height of 50 feet in what is stated to be the biggest mine blaze in the area. About 50,000 local people are in grave danger. A DEVASTATING fire in seven illegal coal mines ripped through the Jamuria-Satgram area in Asansol endangering 50,000 people. The flames that started underground leapt 50 feet into the air. Local people told the media that they had never seen such a big fire in the mine areas, which see frequent fires. The fire started in the illegal mines controlled by the infamous Asansol coal mafia in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. It was about 1.30am when local people noticed the fire and informed the fire brigade and the Eastern Coalfield Limited authorities. The fire spread rapidly to the adjacent mines even as ECL authorities tried to seal the mouth of the mines. Panic gripped the 50,000 people in the area as the fire brigade failed to control the blaze. There are oil pipelines within 100 metres of the site of the blaze and the National Highway 2 is close by. Both maybe affected if the fire is not controlled. Fears of underground explosions have put the local people in a quandary. Local people described the blaze as frightening. The illegal mines are interlinked, which helped the fire spread. It is difficult for the fire brigade to control the fire because the water being sprayed from the fire engines was not reaching the source of the blaze that is underground. The mines are gaseous and there is all likelihood of methane being present. The seven illegal mines are under the control of infamous coal mafia of Asansol which is into rampant illegal mining of coal. So much so that coal was seen being carted away in the early hours of the day despite the fire raging and the presence of the police, the fire brigade and ECL officials. The district administration and the ECL have not been able to do anything to check illegal mining of coal by the mafia. A massive blame game is on between the two, over the mafia's activities. Ironically, apart from the police the Central Industrial Security Force personnel are posted at the ECL mines but nothing has been done to prevent illegal mining, which leads to loss of government revenue and may lead to massive subsidence as the bowels of the earth in the region is emptied of coal. Subsidence poses a serious threat to the people of the area. Most of the illegal mines are those abandoned by the ECL and taken over by the mafia who seem to have a nexus with sections of the police and the CISF. Incidentally no maps of the illegal mines are available making it difficult for the authorities to tackle the underground blaze. According to locals the only way to contain the fire is to seal the mines and cut off oxygen supply so that the fire subsides. www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=128981 ** ** <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7490218.stm> [image: Join Jharkhand Network]<http://www.jharkhand.org.in/jharkhand_flier.pdf> Click on pic to download this Jharkhand Flier . * News TV <http://www.indian-tv.blogspot.com/> Blog <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/blog> Photo <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/photo> Music <http://www.jharkhandi.org/music.htm> Video <http://www.jharkhandi.org/video.htm> Live Chat <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/live> Directory <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/directory> Testimonials <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/directory> Forum <http://yahoogroups.com/group/jharkhand> Contact <http://www.jharkhand.org.in/contact.htm> . * --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Explore http://Jharkhand.org.in 4 Live Chat, i-Messaging, Music Video, News and much more..... 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