J'khand MP stages dharna for 'rescue' of illegal miners BCCL police say no sign of collapse

Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Jul 23 (PTI) Giridih MP C P Choudhary staged a dharna in Jharkhand's Dhanbad on Wednesday demanding the rescue of miners feared trapped during illegal mining at an abandoned mine of BCCL, while several other leaders charged the administration with suppressing the incident.
    The police, administration and the BCCL, however, said that, so far, they have not found any sign of mine collapse so far.
    Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Aditya Ranjan told PTI, "We have rushed an NDRF team to the spot suggested but so far, no sign of any such incident has been found."
    Choudhary staged a dharna outside Baghmara police station demanding an operation to rescue the miners allegedly trapped in a closed underground mine of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL).
    The Baghmara colliery area of Dhanbad falls under Giridih Lok Sabha constituency which Choudhary of AJSU Party represents.
    Choudhary reached the incident spot in the afternoon and staged a dharna around 3 pm announcing he will continue the sit-in until the BCCL management starts rescue operation through the NDRF.
    He held the company management responsible for the incident.
    Local people alleged that the roof of a closed underground mine of the BCCL caved in during illegal mining and about half-a-dozen hired workers of an illegal mining syndicate were trapped in it.
    However, Dhanbad Police and BCCL officials said that so far, they have not found signs of any such incident.
    JD(U) Saryu Rai alleged that the incident shows failure of the district administration and BCCL management.
    "Despite heavy deployment of CISF personnel in the colliery for protection of the national property, coal theft and incidents of illegal mining are continuing unabated and it is a matter of concern," he said.
    He wrote on X, "Nine labourers have died due to the collapse of an illegal mine at a place called Jamunia in Baghmara, Dhanbad. Illegal mining mafia is engaged in disposing of dead bodies."
    The leaders claimed that the incident occurred near Jamuniya River in Baghmara police station area on Tuesday evening.
    "There are reports of casualties due to illegal mining in Baghmara area of Dhanbad. Attempts are being made to suppress this whole accident on a large scale," Jharkhand BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo posted on X.
    He urged the Union home minister, coal ministry, Jharkhand chief minister's office and Jharkhand Police to take cognisance of the incident.
    Dhanbad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Prabhat Kumar told PTI, "As we received the information, we sent a team to the said location but no trace of any such incident was found. Additionally, no one from any side including family members turned up."
    Regional nodal security officer of block- 2 project of BCCL, Rajiv Ranjan, said there is no information of any such incident in the closed underground mine of block-2 project.
    However, a social activist of Baghmara and former chairman of Bokaro Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA), Bijay Jha, claimed that the incident had occurred and people were stopped from visiting the place by an illegal mining syndicate on Tuesday night.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)