Underground fire is threatening national highway of Jharkhand state of India.

Land subsidence and mild tremors can be felt in the affected area.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

The National Highway 33 and surrounding environment of Jharkhand state of India may be damaged if an ongoing underground fire further engulfs an abandoned mine of Central Coal Field Ltd (CCL) in Ramgarh district.
The mine fire was detected a month ago and is spreading to the new areas.

The road connects capital city of two states i.e. Jharkhand and Bihar and is one of the important mode of communication of the area.

The fire has reached the national highway which is situated near the closed coal mine.
The fire was detected by local residents last week in the mine near Lohagate of Kuju colliery in Ramgarh, about 70 km from state capital Ranchi.

The fire in the closed mines of CCL near Kuju of Ramgarh district has drawn close to the national highway, posing a threat to a three-km-long stretch. Smoke emanating from the underground fire is clearly visible near the highway.

It is not only the fire which is threatening the area but it is also threatening the environment, life and health of the village people staying beside the road. Forest area is also under threat. Threat of land subsidence in the area has increased. Mild tremors can be felt in the area.

Coal also contains many trace elements, including arsenic and mercury, which are dangerous if released into the environment. Coal also contains low levels of uranium, thorium, and other naturally-occurring radioactive isotopes whose release into the environment may lead to radioactive contamination. While these substances are trace impurities, enough coal is burned that significant amounts of these substances are released, paradoxically resulting in more radioactive waste than nuclear power.

Toxic trace elements coming out due to burning of the coal may affect the soil and surface water of the area. It is not only the trace element which may be affecting the area but gases like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide may also affect the area.

These burning underground fires are difficult to locate and may not be extinguished. Fire is said to be now spreading to the newer areas.

Fires can cause the ground above to subside, combustion gases are dangerous to life, and breaking out to the surface can initiate surface wildfires.
According to the CCL officials fire has been caused due to the illegal coal mining done by the local poor people.

Work will soon begin on building a diversion on the National Highway-33, connecting Ranchi to Patna, to avert any accident as a raging fire in a coal mine has threatened a section of the road.

Fresh photographs of Jharia mine fire.

Fresh photographs of Jharia mine fire in Jharkhand State of India.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Fig. Jharia resembles a cremation ground at night.

Fig: smoke coming out in main town

Fig. Cavities being formed on the surface of the Jharia town

The haunting inscription that marks the gates of hell in Dante’s Inferno could well be true for Jharia, located in Jharkhand in India. For, the underground fires that have been raging in the coalfields of this town over several decades are now beginning to engulf its thickly inhabited areas as well.
Such is the intensity of the fires that even a mid-summer sun pales in the smoky haze that they generate. After dusk, the flames take on morbid hues. “Jharia resembles a cremation ground at night”.
The fires have consumed about 42 million tones of India’s best coking coal.
There appears to be no permanent solution in sight. The only opinion seems to be cut out trenches to disconnect fire seams which have been identified. But this would require a huge investment. But the extent to which has flared up in Jharia makes dousing it an uphill task-particularly when all the prevailing conditions further fan the fire.
The only solution which is now seen is the “shifting of town”. This means that the relocation would affect the nearly 0.3 million population of Jharia, approximately 0.1 million houses and other buildings and prospering economy.

A coal seam fire or mine fire is the underground smouldering of a coal deposit, often in a coal mine. Such fires have economic, social and ecological impacts. They are often started by lightning, grass, or forest fires, and are particularly insidious because they continue to smoulder underground after surface fires have been extinguished, sometimes for many years, before flaring up and restarting forest and brush fires nearby. They propagate in a creeping fashion along mine shafts and cracks in geologic structures.
Coal fires are a serious problem because hazards to health and safety and the environment include toxic fumes, reigniting grass, brush, or forest fires, and subsidence of surface infrastructure such as roads, pipelines, electric lines, bridge supports, buildings and homes. Whether started by humans or by natural causes, coal seam fires continue to burn for decades or even centuries until either the fuel source is exhausted; a permanent groundwater table is encountered; the depth of the burn becomes greater than the ground’s capacity to subside and vent; or humans intervene. Because they burn underground, coal seam fires are extremely difficult and costly to extinguish, and are unlikely to be suppressed by rainfall.