“The fire is rapidly taking the old mine workings beneath the
settlement in its grasp and could also spread beneath the two
concrete dam situated near the workings making the area prone to
flooding also”, says Rahul Guha, Deptuy Director General of Mine
Safety (DDG). There are some 70 active fires in the Jharia
region, spread over an area of 18 square kilometers. In an area
that is crisscrossed with hundreds of underground mine shafts
and vast deposits of coal they spell imminent crisis. The
landscape looks something out of a sci-fi movie. Cracks and
fissure open up on the roads as plumes of smoke reach out for
the sky. Vegetation on the surface is thin as the heat from
below has left the land arid and infertile. A sulphurous stench
clings to the surface. At night sets the fields around the
Jharia take on a surreal effect. Blue flames can be seen dancing
on the surface and the fires burning below can be clearly seen
through the various cracks on the ground. The first fires were
reported as far back as 1916 wh