Mugma Area is one of the 14 operational areas of
Eastern Coalfields Limited located in
Dhanbad district
Dhanbad district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand States and territories of India, state, India, and Dhanbad is the administrative headquarters of this district. As of 2011, it is the second most populous district of Jharkhand ...
in the state of
Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
Geography
Location
The Mugma Area is located around
The Mugma Area is bounded by the rural areas of Jamtara district on the north, the
Sodepur Area
Sodepur Area is one of the 14 operational areas of Eastern Coalfields, Eastern Coalfields Limited located mainly in Asansol subdivision of Paschim Bardhaman district and partly of Raghunathpur subdivision in Purulia district, both in the state of ...
of ECL, in Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal, across the
Barakar
Barakar is a neighbourhood in Asansol, Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is governed by the Asansol Municipal Corporation It is situated at the border of the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal. The Grand Trunk R ...
, on the east,
Raghunathpur subdivision
Raghunathpur subdivision is a subdivision of the Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India.
History
Purulia district was divided into four subdivisions, viz., Purulia Sadar, Manbazar, Jhalda and Raghunathpur, with effect from 6 April 20 ...
of Purulia district of West Bengal, across the
Damodar, on the south, and the
Jharia Coalfield
Jharia coalfield is a large coal field located in the east of India in Jharia, Dhanbad, Jharkhand. Jharia represents the largest coal reserves in India having estimated reserves of 19.4 billion tonnes of coking coal. The coalfield is an important ...
on the west. While
Maithon Dam
The Maithon Dam is located at Maithon, 48 km from Dhanbad, in the state of Jharkhand India.It is just 24 km from Asansol city and one of the topmost visited place in Asansol region.
long and high.
Maithon Dam is 194 km away from Ranch ...
, across the Barakar, is in the north-east,
Panchet Dam
Panchet Dam was the last of the four multi-purpose dams included in the first phase of the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC). It was constructed across the Damodar River at Panchet in Dhanbad district in the Indian state of Jharkhand, and opened ...
, across the Damodar, is in the south-east.
[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, the following collieries of the Mugma field function under the Mugma 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 ...
: Chapapur II, Badjna, Nirsa, Mandman, Kapasara, Lakhimata, Kumardhubi, Gopinathpur, Khudia Open Cast, Khudia Under Ground, Shyampur A, Shyampur B, Hariyajam, Rajpura OCP and Barmuri OCP.
As per ECL website telephone numbers, operational collieries in the Mugma Area in 2018 are: Badjna Colliery, Bermury OCP, Chapapur Colliery, Gopinathpur Colliery, Hariajam Colliery, Kumardhubi Colliery, Khoodia Colliery, Kapasara Colliery, Lakhimata Colliery, Mandman Colliery, Rajpura OCP and Shampur B.
The Chanch Victoria Area of
BCCL is spread over Jharkhand and West Bengal. The Jharkhand part of the Chanch Victoria Area is located outside the south-eastern part of Mugma Area. While collieries such as Basantimata are still in operation, other collieries such as Chanch have been closed.
Mining plan
''Cluster 1'', a group of 11 mines, is in the western part of
Raniganj Coalfield
Raniganj Coalfield is primarily located in the Asansol and Durgapur subdivisions of Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal. It spreads over to the neighboring districts of Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia and to Dhanbad district of Jharkhand. Mainl ...
(west of
Barakar River
The Barakar River is the main tributary of the Damodar River in eastern India. Originating near Padma, Hazaribagh, Padma in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand it flows for across the northern part of the Chota Nagpur Plateau, mostly in a west to eas ...
) in the
Nirsa
Nirsa is a census town in Nirsa CD block in the Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in the Indian state of Jharkhand.
Geography
Location
Nirsa is located at . It has an average elevation of 139 metres (456 ft).
Note: The ma ...
CD Block in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand. An overview of the proposed mining activity plan in Cluster 1, in the Mugma Area, as of 2015–16, is as follows:
1. Hariajam underground mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.11 million tonnes and peak annual production capacity of 0.14 mt, had an expected life of more than 25 years. In Hariajam UG mine extraction of coal was being carried out in the Brindabanpur (BP) seam and Gopinathpur (GP) seam through development panels by the
bord and pillar method.
2. Badjna UG mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.05 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.10 mt, had an expected life of more than 25 years. In Badjna UG mine extraction of coal was being carried out in the Brindabanpur (BP) seam and Kalimati (KM) seam through development panels by the bord and pillar method.
3. Chapapur II UG mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.15 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.20 mt, had an expected life of more than 25 years. Chapapur OC patch had an expected life of 1 year. In Chapapur UG mine extraction of coal was being carried out in the Mehtadih seam and Kalimati (KM) seam. In Kalimati seam, depillaring operation was under progress with caving. In Mehtadih seam, development of pillars was under progress.
4. Khoodia UG mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.05 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.10 mt, had an expected life of more than 25 years. Khoodia OC patch had an expected life of 1 year. In Khoodia UG mine extraction of coal was being carried out in the Brindabanpur seam in development phase. Further development work was planned to be done in the top section of Brindabanpur seam and in some portion of Mugma Special seam.
5. Lakhimata UG mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.08 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.10 mt, had an expected life of more than 25 years. Lakhimata OC patch had an expected life of 8 years. In Lakhimata UG mine extraction of coal was being carried out in the Mugma Special seam and Mehtadih seam through development panels by the board and pillar method.
6. Shampur B UG mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.09 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.10 mt, had an expected life of more than 25 years. Shampur B (Sangamahal) OC patch had an expected life of 3 years. Shampur B was in the development phase.
7. Mandman UG mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.07 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.10 mt, had an expected life of more than 25 years. Kalimati bottom seam was being worked by the board and pillar method, and was under depillaring (with caving) phase. Preparations for development of pillars in Mehtadih seam had also been taken up. Development virgin patches of Kalimati bottom seam was also planned.
8. Nirsa OC patch, with normative annual production capacity of 0.09 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.10 mt, had an expected life of more than 11 years.
9. Shampur A UG mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.05 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.10 mt, had an expected life of more than 25 years. Shampur A OC patch had an expected life of 2 years.
10. Gopinathpur UG mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.05 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.10 mt, had an expected life of more than 25 years. Gopinathpur OC patch had an expected life of 5 years.
11. Kapasara UG mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.10 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.15 mt, had an expected life of more than 25 years. Kapasara OC patch had an expected life of 5 years.
An overview of the proposed mining activity plan in ''Cluster 2'', a group of 3 mines in the Mugma Area, as of 2015–16, is as follows:
1. Kumardhubi UG mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.08 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.10 mt, had an expected life of more than 20 years. Kumardhubi is a pre-nationalisation mine. SP top seam was being developed by the bord and pillar method, with entry through BL Incline. Another small patch at SP top seam was being developed by the same method, with entry through Pit No. 2.
2. Barmuri OC mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.18 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.23 mt, had an expected life of more than 10 years. Kalimati seam was being worked in this mine.
3. Rajpura OC mine, with normative annual production capacity of 0.10 mt and peak annual production capacity of 0.12 mt, had an expected life of more than 5 years. Kalimati seam was being worked but very little reserve is left. Moreover, the mine faces land constraints owing to presence of densely populated area, Eastern Railway
Grand Chord
Grand Chord is part of the Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Prayagraj–Mumbai line. It acts as a link between Sitarampur railway station, Sitarampur, (Asansol) (West Bengal) and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction (Uttar Pradesh), previous ...
line,
Grand Trunk Road
Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It r ...
etc. Progress in Rajpura OC is limited.
Illegal mining
Mines abandoned, after economic extraction is over, are the main sources of
illegal mining
Illegal mining is mining activity that is undertaken without state permission. Illegal mining is the extraction of precious metals/rocks without following the proper procedures to participate in legal mining activity. These procedures include pe ...
, which is generally done in small patches in a haphazard manner and mining sites keep on changing. Illegal mining leads to roof falling, water flooding, poisonous gas leaking, leading to the death of many labourers. As per the Ministry of Coal, Government of India, there are 203 illegal mining sites in ECL spread over Satgram, Sripur, Salanpur, Sodepur, Kunstoria, Pandveshwar, Mugma, Santhal Parganas Mines and Rajmahal.
Land subsidence and fire
Rampant illegal mining in the pits abandoned by
BCCL and
ECL ECL may refer to:
Science and technology
* Electrochemiluminescence
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* Enterochromaffin-like cell
Computing
* ECL programming language, an extensible programming language
* ECL (data-centric ...
in the Jharkhand-West Bengal border regions has assumed alarming proportions threatening both rail and road connections in the region. According to the
DGMS, there are at least 22 villages and a few industrial towns, with an estimated population of a million, virtually dangling over empty pits. Illegal miners leave behind the pits vacant after taking out the coal. BCCL and ECL, who have filled up some abandoned pits in Sripur, Sodepur, Kajora, Salanpur and Mugma Areas, do not have funds to fill up large number of abandoned pits. A comprehensive rehabilitation package is estimated at Rs. 15,000
crore
Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...
. There have been incidents of land subsidence all over the region. In 2015, a section of the road connecting Kapasara Open Cast Project caved in.
Another major problem is fire in the abandoned mines. One such mine at Brindabanpur, 50 m from
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 ...
and 100 m from the
Grand Chord
Grand Chord is part of the Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Prayagraj–Mumbai line. It acts as a link between Sitarampur railway station, Sitarampur, (Asansol) (West Bengal) and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction (Uttar Pradesh), previous ...
railway track, was on fire in 2014. Woken up by the noise of explosions, the residents alerted the Mugma Area offices of ECL. They came and took action to extinguish the fire and fill up the abandoned mine. As a precautionary measure 650 workers of ECL's adjoining Lakhimata Colliery were evacuated.
Transport
The
Asansol–Gaya section
The Asansol–Gaya section is a railway line connecting and Gaya in India. This track is part of the Grand Chord, Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line. This section includes the NSC Bose Gomoh–Barkakana line. ...
, which is a part of
Howrah-Gaya-Delhi line and
Howrah-Allahabad-Mumbai line passes through the Mugma Area.
The old
Grand Trunk Road
Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It r ...
passes through the Mugma 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 numbering NH 2), running from Agra to Kolkata, leaves GT Road at near Brindabanpur and passes mostly outside the crowded towns and mining areas and rejoins GT Road after
Asansol
Asansol is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest city in West Bengal. It is the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India by population. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Bardhaman district. Accordi ...
.
[
]
See also
* Chanch/ Victoria Area of BCCL functioning in the same region.
References
{{Operational Areas of ECL
Coal mining operational areas in Jharkhand