Fresh move to douse Jharia’s coal fires

The burning deposits of Jharia, in Jharkhand, are particularly prized because they are the only source of top quality steelmaking coal in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is determined to move more than 1,00,000 people living near coalfields in eastern India to new homes, making it easier to douse underground fires that have burned for a century, and mine huge reserves of premium coal.

Reviving output from India's nationalised coal sector has been one of Mr. Modi's most tangible achievements during his first year in office, one that he hopes will secure continuous power to all and eat into an annual coal import bill of $15 billion.

The burning deposits of Jharia, in Jharkhand, are particularly prized because they are the only source of top quality steelmaking coal in the country. India spends $4 billion a year on importing that grade alone.

Mr. Modi travelled to Jharkhand in February and urged the Chief Minister to speed up work on putting out the fires and shifting the people living there.

“The fact that the Prime Minister is directly involved shows that the government is very serious about it,” Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said in New Delhi.

‘Huge task’

“It’s a huge task but the good news is that we have started moving in the right direction.” Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL), the Coal India unit which controls the Jharia field, estimates fires have already devoured about 37 million tonnes of coal and blocked access to 2 billion tonnes more, theoretically worth $220 billion.

Previous attempts to control the fires by sealing the surface, trenching and pumping in inert gases had limited success and were blamed for driving BCCL close to bankruptcy.