SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, June 3: A total of 4,886 legal land title holder families living in the dangerous areas of the Jharia mines fire zone have been identified for shifting to a safer place.
Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sandip Singh cum managing director of Jharia Rehabilitation and Development Authority (JRDA) said that so far, 2,684 non-legal land title holder (occupant) families, living in the dangerous areas of the Jharia fire zone, have been shifted to the Belagaria township till May 31.
“Besides it, the management of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) has also verified 4,886 legal land title holder families living in the dangerous fire zone,” said the DC after a review meeting with senior officers of the district administration, BCCL and authority of JRDA.
As per the last survey (2019) conducted by authorized agencies, over 1.4 lakh families have been identified living in the Jharia mines fire zone and require to be shifted to a safe place. Among these, 72,882 are living on the land of BCCL unauthorized and 32,046 families are legal land owners.
Though the unauthorized occupant families are being shifted in Belagaria Township quarters constructed for displaced persons of the Jharia fire, no policy has been made for compensation to the legal landholders for shifting.
“Over 2,684 families of Putki Balihari Area, Bastakola, Lodna and East Jharia Area living in fire zone have been shifted in quarters of Belagaria township till May 31,” said the DC who visited the Belagaria Township to assess available civic facilities for residents. He directed the concerned officials to ensure proper arrangements so that residents do not face any crisis.
The DC said that so far 10,353 quarters are completed in Belagaria Township to house displaced families and construction of 8000 units is under progress.
“Besides shifting of 2,684 occupant families under Jharia Master Plan, BCCL management has also verified 4886 legal land owner families living in fire zone who require shifting at a safe place,” the DC said.
Besides DC, Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC) Shashi Prakash Singh, Dhanbad SDM Prem Kumar Tiwari, DCLR Satish Chandra, executive magistrate cum JRDA in-charge Amar Prasad, BCCL general manager (GM) civil DN Mahapatra, survey in-charge Raju Rajak, manager finance HP Dikshit, general manager coordination PC Chandra, general manager Jharia Master Plan Piyush Kishore were also present at the review meeting.
Notably, the JRDA has been raced to shift families living in the fire zone of Jharia after the visit of a high-level committee sent by the PMO on September 20, 2021.
