At least 54 miners were feared dead on Thursday in a colliery of a state-owned mine in Jharkhand following a huge explosion.
DHANBAD: At least 54 miners were feared dead on Thursday in a colliery of a state-owned mine in Jharkhand following a huge explosion. Angry relatives have blamed the management for the disaster.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, who was heckled by relatives of the trapped men and workers, said at the accident site: “Had the Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) started the rescue operation on time, the trapped miners could have been saved.”
A union member alleged that BCCL had not updated the map of the mine, making rescue even more difficult.
Coal India Limited (CIL) chairman Shashi Kumar and BCCL chief managing director (CMD) Partho Ghosh, who visited the spot early on Thursday, acknowledged that rescue was difficult. “We cannot say about the fate of the trapped miners. We should pray for their safety,” said Ghosh.
“The rescue operation is proceeding slowly. The management, despite knowing the dangers, sent miners into the death trap,” said Shambu Kumar, whose brother is inside the dark depths of the mine.
“This is one of the BCCL’s poisonous mines. No safety measures have been adopted by the management. Water sprinkling facilities and gas testing machines should be available in the colliery. But no such arrangements have been made here,” a union member alleged.
“The safety measures have been given a go by and the project manager never bothered to enter the mine to assess the situation of poisonous gas,” added an angry family member.
Munda added substance to their grievances when he said: “We had suggested to coal ministry authorities that a Global Positioning System (GPS) be provided to the miners so their position could be located if any tragedy takes place. But our suggestion was not taken in a positive way.”
More than 1,000 people have died over the last two decades in mine accidents similar to the latest one in Dhanbad, but mine safety measures have been continuously neglected in the rush to meet higher production targets.
Dhanbad has been the scene of the worst mining accidents in the country, including a 1975 coalmine explosion in which 375 workers were killed and another mining disaster that claimed an equal number of lives 10 years later.
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