Fire alarm

With Jharia being declared unsafe due to the underground mine fire,4,650 families have to be rehabilitated. But the BCCL and district administration are facing stiff resistance from the affected people as well as some politicians....

The underground fire raging in the coal mining zone of Jharia for more than 60 years now is also fuelling a political battle in Jharkhand. There are 4,650 families all of whom had encroached upon land belonging to Bharat Coking Coal Limited BCCL who have to be rehabilitated now that the area has been declared endangered by the Director General of Mines Safety DGMS. But with most families having their names on the electoral rolls,politicians cannot afford to ignore their opposition to the rehabilitation process. Already,many politicians have begun agitation against the BCCL-administration plan of rehabilitation.

Jaan denge par zamin nahi chhorenge We will give up life but not land, was the slogan in one such agitation. The BJPs Dhanbad MP P N Singh has already visited Jharia to assure these people that they would not be shifted. The Congresss former Dhanbad MP Chandra Shekhar Dubey has also expressed similar views. They were settled in the area by the then labour and railway minister Jagjiwan Ram. I will ensure that they are not evicted, says Dubey.

The BCCL and the district administration have set a 100-day timeframe for the rehabilitation process. Secretary Mines Santosh Kumar Satapathy,whos the brain behind the plan,says that if the genuine concerns of the affected people are addressed in right earnest,there should not be any opposition.

The encroachers have settled down at Gowalapatti,LUJ Pit,Rajput Basti,Modi Bhitta and Boka Pahari all land belonging to the BCCL. The plan is to rehabilitate them in two colonies of the BCCL at Belguria and Bhuli in Dhanbad. The BCCL has served notices,asking them to opt for any one of the two colonies where they would like to be rehabilitated,before July 31. In view of the imminent disaster,the plan also envisages use of force to evict people.

At Belgoria and Bhuli,the BCCL owns 2,300 and 6,000 quarters,respectively. We hope to settle them within the timeframe, says Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Ajay Kumar Singh. The administration has set up the Jharia Rehabilitation Development Authority JRDA with Dhanbad DC as its Managing Director. As per the plan,over Rs 3,712 crore will be required for the rehabilitation. The Central government and the BCCL are supposed to make the fund available to the JRDA. However,the JRDA is yet to get any fund.The plan approved in a meeting held in Dhanbad on July 6 said that allotment of houses will be made by the JRDA to the affected families. In case there is resistance,the district administration will be provided with paramilitary forces to deal with the situation.

The task before the BCCL and the district administration is huge for two main reasons. First,many of the quarters at Belguria and Bhuli,where the illegal settlers from Jharia are to be shifted,have been encroached upon for long. Secondly,the plan is silent on the loss of occupation for these illegal settlers who own shops and work as labourers in Jharia and are,hence,opposing any move pertaining to rehabilitation.

Take the case of 55-year-old Jawahar Kumar,who settled on BCCLs land some 30 years ago and sells sweets,or that of 50-year-old Mahadeo Karan,a daily wage labourer and his three school-going children. For them,theres no guarantee of employment after they are shifted out of Jharia. Today I have a source of income. But I dont know what will happen tomorrow, says 60-year-old Dinkar Ram,who owns a paan shop and is suffering from tuberculosis.