Fires In Jharia Coalfield Vis-A-Vis Legislative Provisions

Fire in Jharia Coalfield is continuing for more than eight decades, causing huge loss of the scarce coking coal reserve of the country. There are about 150 mine fires in Indian coalfields and nearly 50% of them are in Jharia Coalfield. Extensive exploitation of good quality shallow depth seams in unplanned and unscientific manner in the past has caused numerous problems, viz. large subsidence, surface cracks, loss of coal in the goaf and ultimately resulted into spontaneous heating and fire. The authors in this paper has reviewed some of the recent fires of Jharia Coalfield and tried to find out the causes. The authors have also tried to highlight the specific statutory lapses and non-compliance of safety measures in these cases. It is suggested to give more stress for strict compliance of the existing statutory and other safety measures during planning and working of the mine at different stages of operation,for its early detection and taking measures to prevent spread of fire.