SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Feb 19: Rattled by the rising death cases due to illegal mining, the Dhanbad district administration has directed the coal companies to ensure a complete ban on entry of unauthorized persons in the mines area.
Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sandip Singh at the coordination committee meeting of the district administration and Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) said that it is the responsibility of the coal company and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to stop the entry of any unauthorized person in the coal mines area. Ban on their entry is the first step for checking illegal mining and coal theft.
The DC has swung into action as seven persons have died in the district due to illegal mining in the first week of February. Five persons died in the Gopinathpur mines of Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL) on February 1 in Nirsa and two persons on February 8 in Mahuda mines of Bharat Coking Coal Limited.
“Unfortunately, many lives have been lost in these illegal mining incidents. The life of every citizen is important for us. To ensure that such incidents do not take place again in the future, we have to implement the Mining Act strictly so that coal mining can be done smoothly and illegal mining is checked,” directed DC Sandip Singh to the BCCL and CISF top brass at the meeting.
The DC admitted that illegal mining and coal theft are major problems in Dhanbad and it is necessary to solve them on a priority basis.
“It could be stopped if joint efforts by the district administration and the BCCL management are taken,” he said.
The DC also asked CISF officers to file a named FIR against persons involved in illegal mining and assured full cooperation from the district administration in action against them.
However, at the same time, he asked to create job opportunities for the local people on a priority basis through labour cooperatives and provide them material as per requirement.
Besides the DC and district planning officer, SDM, Chairman cum Managing Director of BCCL, Director Technical (DT) and the general managers of the colliery areas were present at the meeting.
