Jharia Coal Belt Ecology Underground Fire Jharkhand

The Jharia coalfields of Dhanbad district, Jharkhand, are India's richest coking coal reserves (estimated 55 billion tonnes) and also the site of one of the world's most severe and long-running underground coal fire emergencies: an estimated 70 fires have been burning continuously in the underground coal seams and surface coal dumps of Jharia since 1916, with one section of the coalfield burning continuously for over 100 years. The Jharia underground fire creates a multi-dimensional ecological and human rights crisis: ground subsidence has caused the collapse of residential areas in Bhowra, Belgoria, and Khas Jharia localities, forcing the displacement of over 100,000 people from the hazard zone; toxic gases including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide emanate from surface cracks and sinkholes; groundwater in the affected zone is contaminated with coal leachate; and the ecosystem of the Damodar River, which receives drainage from the coalfield, is severely degraded. Simultaneously, hundreds of thousands of daily-wage coal pickers (beldars), predominantly Adivasi women and families, depend on surface coal gleaning from the open-cast mine edges as their primary livelihood — making them directly exposed to the fire hazard and the toxic gas zones. The traditional ecological knowledge of Jharia coal belt Adivasi communities includes detailed mental maps of the active fire zones, subsidence timing patterns, and safe surface access routes that have preserved human life despite the absence of formal hazard mapping for many decades. BCCL (Bharat Coking Coal Limited) and the Jharia Rehabilitation and Development Authority (JRDA) have a master plan for underground fire control and community relocation.