Ranchi, July 1 (Inditop.com) The National Highway 33 of Jharkhand may be damaged if an ongoing underground fire further engulfs an abandoned mine of Central Coal Field Ltd (CCL) in Ramgarh district.
“The fire has reached the national highway which is situated near the closed coal mine,” a police officer said. According to CCL authorities, the fire has spread in an area of around 3,000 sq metres.
The fire was detected by local residents last week in the mine near Lohagate of Kuju colliery in Ramgarh, about 70 km from state capital Ranchi.
“The ‘rat hole’ was made during illegal mining and spontaneous heating of the coal caused the fire. We have started filling the void to stop spread of fire. Safety measures have been adopted,” CCL General Manager (Safety) T.B. Mitra told IANS.
Though the filling work started Monday, the fire spread further Tuesday.
“Coal companies are not allowed to mine around national highways. Illegal mining is the cause of the fire,” said Mitra.
Mines should be filled in after being closed by the coal companies. The companies say they fill in the mines but illegal miners become active after the mine is closed.
