The Coal Fires of Jharia

Jharia and the neighbouring village of Bokapahari, in the state of Jharkhand, lie within one of India’s largest coal reserves. Coke coal is important for India’s economy as more than 70% of the country’s power supply is derived from coal. But for the 90,000 people living around Jharia, there is no benefit. Coal fires rage below the surface and noxious gases spew from fissures in and around houses. The incessant mining and the underground fire that has been burning for almost a century has contaminated everything – the soil, the water and the air. Sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons emitted by the burning coal have caused illnesses that range from stroke to chronic pulmonary disease. Nearly everybody in Jharia is ill. Occasionally the ground collapses, swallowing buildings and people into the chasm. Coal can ignite spontaneously at rather low temperatures when exposed to certain conditions of temperature and oxygen. This may occur naturally or the combustion process may be triggered by other causes. In Jharai, a lot of mining is done illegally in open cast mines. Here coal is mined in right next to the houses, on the streets, on railway lines, and in the station itself. Ever since coal mines were nationalized in 1971, the villagers have been eking out a living pilfering coal they sell in the local market. Conventionally after open cast mining, areas are refilled with sand and water so that the land can be cultivated again. This has never happened in Jharia, which lead to the coal seams coming into contact with oxygen and catching fire. Once a coal seam catches fire, and efforts to stop it an early stage fail, it may continue to burn for tens to hundreds of years, depending primarily on the availability of coal and oxygen (see: Centralia and Darvaza’s The Door to Hell ). Jharia’s fires were first detected in 1916, and were caused primarily because of improperly decommissioned abandoned mines.