Kunustoria Area is one of the 14 operational areas of
Eastern Coalfields Limited
Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) is a coal producer based in India. The company was founded in 1975 after nationalisation of coal mines in India. It operates coal mines in Jharkhand and West Bengal states of India. It inherited all the priv ...
located in
Asansol subdivision
Asansol Sadar subdivision is an administrative subdivision of the Paschim Bardhaman district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Overview
Asansol Sadar subdivision is part of the Ajay Damodar Barakar tract. This area is sort of an extension of t ...
of
Paschim Bardhaman district
Paschim Bardhaman district is a predominantly urban mining-industrial district in West Bengal. The headquarter of the district is Asansol. It was formed on 7 April 2017 after bifurcation of the erstwhile Bardhaman district as the 23rd distric ...
in the state of
West Bengal
West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
, India.
Geography
Location
The Kunustoria Area is located around
The Kunustoria Area is bounded by the rural areas of
Jamuria
Jamuria is a neighbourhood in Asansol of Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is governed by Asansol Municipal Corporation
Geography
Location
Jamuria is located at . It has an average elevation of 111 metres ...
CD Block on the north,
Kenda Area and
Kajora Area
Kajora Area is one of the 14 operational areas of Eastern Coalfields Limited located in Durgapur subdivision of Paschim Bardhaman district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Geography
Location
The Kajora Area is located around
The Kajora Ar ...
on the east, Bankura district, across the
Damodar on the south, and
Satgram Area
Satgram Area is one of the 14 operational areas of Eastern Coalfields Limited located mainly in Asansol subdivision of Paschim Bardhaman district and partly in Bankura Sadar subdivision in Bankura district, both in the state of West Bengal, India ...
and
Sripur Area
Sripur Area is one of the 14 operational areas of Eastern Coalfields Limited located in Asansol subdivision of Paschim Bardhaman district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Geography
Location
Sripur Area is located around
The Sripur Area ...
on the west.
[Google maps]
The map alongside shows some of the collieries in the Area. However, as the collieries do not have individual pages, there are no links in the full screen map.
Coal
As per the Shodhganga website, collieries in the Kunustoria Area of
Eastern Coalfields
Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) is a coal producer based in India. The company was founded in 1975 after nationalisation of coal mines in India. It operates coal mines in Jharkhand and West Bengal states of India. It inherited all the priv ...
are: Amritnagar, Amrasota, Mahabir, North Searsole, Kunustoria, Banshra, Topsi, Belbaid, Parasea 6&7, Parasea, Banshra OCP and Parasea OCP.
As per ECL website telephone numbers, operational collieries in the Kunustoria Area in 2018 are:Amritnagar Colliery, Amrasota Colliery, Bansra Colliery, Belbaid Colliery, Kunustoria Colliery, Mahabir OCP, North Searsole Colliery, Parasea Colliery, Parasea 6 & 7 Incline and Parasea OCP.
See also –
Kajora Area#Mining plan – it includes a major portion of Kunustoria Area
See also –
Satgram Area#Mining plan for Amritnagar and Mahabir collieries
Subsidence
Traditionally many underground collieries have left a void after taking out the coal. As a result, almost all areas are facing subsidence. As per CMPDIL, there were 11 points of subsidence in the Kunustoria Area involving 399.21 hectares of land.
Mahabir Colliery rescue operations
In 1989, Mahabir underground colliery was working in Narainkuri seam through A and B shafts, about 86 m. The overlying Ningah seam (parting 22 m) had been worked and abandoned a long time back. It was full of water. "On 13.11.1989 at about 4 a.m., a heading in Narainkuri seam punctured into an abandoned shaft (Pit No.34, which was not shown on the plan of Narainkuri seam) through which water of Ningah seam started rushing into Narainkuri seam. Heavy flow was reported for about 45 minutes. There were 232 persons employed below ground in the night shift of whom 161, working in the vicinity of the shafts, could come out. 71 could not reach the shafts as the roadways leading to the shafts had got flooded. In a short time, both the shafts got flooded up to a height of 12 m above the pit-bottom. Fortunately, there was a telephone connection between the underground workings (where the miners were trapped) and the surface and it was learnt over this telephone that 65 miners had taken shelter in the rise part of the workings. Thus 6 miners could not be accounted for."
Initially, pumping was resorted to but it did not prove to be an immediate success because much of the water was flowing back into the mine through surface cracks. At a later stage more fool proof pumping arrangements were made. Two exploration bore holes had been drilled in the past. One of the bore holes was activated with further boring and in about 24 hours from the time of flooding, torches, food, drinking water, medicines, etc. were lowered through this bore hole. A second bore hole of 200 mm (8") was bored and then widened in stages to 21.5" diameter. The top 11 m alluvium portion was further enlarged and lined with steel ducting to prevent it from caving in.
[
While drilling was going on, a steel capsule of 17" inside diameter and 2.5 m height had been fabricated. On 16.11.1989, after a few trial runs, Jaswant Singh Gill, Addl Chief Mining Engineer, risked his own life, and went down the bore hole in the capsule. The rescue operations started and the 65 trapped miners started coming up in the capsule, one-by-one. It took about 6 hours to complete the evacuation and the last person to come up was Jaswant Singh Gill.][
"Over 20,000 people had assembled to witness the tension-charged rescue operation... when Shri Gill emerged from the capsule, people went mad with emotional outburst. They lifted him on their shoulders and heaped him with garlands. The scene cannot be described in words; it is best left to the imagination of the reader to re-create it in his own mind, and thus ended a glorious chapter in the history of Indian mining."][
"Jaswant Singh Gill was honoured with India's highest civilian gallantry award Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak (SJRP) for saving the lives of 65 miners, by the President of India. Before Shri Gill, no living person had been honoured with this gallantry award. However, many people have received it posthumously. His historic act of bravery on November 16 is celebrated by Coal India Ltd as ‘Rescue Day’." Gill retired from Coal India as an Executive Director in 1998 and settled in Amritsar. ‘The Hero of Raniganj’ is still remembered by many people in many ways.][
]
Migrants
Prior to the advent of coal mining
Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
, the entire region was a low-productive rice crop area in what was once a part of the Jungle Mahals
Jungle Mahals ( jungle estates) was a district formed by British possessions and some independent chiefdoms lying between Birbhum, Burdwan, Midnapore and the hilly country of Chota Nagpur in what is now the Indian state of West Bengal.O’Malle ...
. The ownership of land had passed on from local adivasi
The Adivasi (also transliterated as Adibasi) are heterogeneous tribal groups across the Indian subcontinent. The term is a recent invention from the 20th century and is now widely used as a self-designation by groups classified as Scheduled Tr ...
s to agricultural castes before mining started. However, the Santhals
The Santal (or Santhal) are an Austroasiatic-speaking Munda ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal in terms of population and are also found in the states of Odisha, Bihar, Assam a ...
and the Bauris
Bauri is a caste primarily residing in the state of West Bengal, India where it is considered as one of the Scheduled Castes. There are significant populations in the states of Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar. They are usually involved in activitie ...
, referred to by the colonial administrators as "traditional coal cutters of Raniganj" remained attached to their lost land and left the mines for agricultural related work, which also was more remunerative. It forced the mine-owners to bring in outside labour, mostly from Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. In time the migrants dominated the mining and industrial scenario. The pauperization and alienation of the adivasis have been major points of social concern.
Transport
The Andal-Jamuria-Sitarampur branch line passes through the Kunustoria Area.
NH 19
National Highway 19 (NH 19) is a national highway in India. It was previously referred to as Delhi–Kolkata Road and is one of the busiest national highways in India. After renumbering of national highways, Delhi to Agra route is now nationa ...
(old number NH 2) and NH 14 (old number NH 60) pass through the Kunustoria Area.
Healthcare
Bansra Hospital of ECL functions with 50 beds.
References
{{Paschim Bardhaman topics
See also
*Mission Raniganj
''Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue'' is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language disaster film, disaster thriller film directed by Tinu Suresh Desai and produced by Pooja Entertainment. Based on the Raniganj Coalfields Kunustoria Area#Mahabir Coll ...
Coal mining operational areas in West Bengal