Since 1916, underground fires in India's Jharia coal field have caused deaths and illnesses in the mining villages. Unhappy with government solutions, residents are turning to protests to find a way out.
"Only we know how it is to live here," says Arshad Ansari, 22, a resident of Bokapahari, a mining village in the Jharia coal field and the biggest coal mining town of eastern India. "Every day, I fear my house will fall on my head."
The bright-eyed young man lives with his wife, Khusboo Khatun, in a tiny shack, less than a kilometre from the mines. The red moraine road leading to his house is marked with deep, charred cracks from where thick, white smoke spirals out, spreading a pungent odour. Trees stand charred and grass patches have gone bald and yellow. It's an apocalyptic scene.
Hundreds of thousands of people like Ansari, living in the Jharia coal field that spans about 280 square kilometres of the Damodar river valley, are courting death every day - a death that comes from right under their feet.
First started in this area in the late 1800s, coal mining can be dangerous if not managed properly. Coal that comes in contact with oxygen can ignite and burn and, once started, an underground fire is almost impossible to put out. The first underground fire in Jharia was detected in 1916 and the coal seams have been burning ever since. According to official records, there are 70 separate underground fires burning in and around Jharia. Unofficial accounts peg the number in the hundreds.
"One day, I started to vomit because of the smoke," says Ansari, a worker in a private mine. "My head felt heavy. I thought I would faint." Ansari was born here and grew up amid the fire and smoke. "But now it has got worse," he says.
Ansari is one of hundreds of workers and residents of the region, fed up with government inaction, to join protest groups for better living conditions. In March, a group of residents blocked vehicles in the town of Dhanbad, near Jharia, to protest the slow fire-fighting efforts for the Jharia fires. Residents of other towns in the area squatted as well in show of support, according to the Times of India.
But so far, not much has changed.
A kilometre away from the pall and gloom of Bokapahari lies the town of Jharia, known for its vast reserves of prime coking coal, which is used in the steel plants. Located 34km south of Dhanbad, in the state of Jharkhand, this seems like just another small town in India: dirty and over crowded, with potholed roads, chaotic traffic jams and frequent power cuts.
But the underground coal fires have spread in all the mining areas and are steadily growing, including here. Houses have begun to fall in some places as the fire rapidly eats up layers of the prized fossil fuel, regularly bursting open the surface and collapsing land, water pipes and houses.
There are thousands of underground coal seam fires burning all over the world, including China, New Zealand, Europe and the US, among other areas. But in Jharia, the problem is the number of people living right overtop the fires.
Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) is the nationalized company that controlsthe coking coal resources in the country and operates in the region. It has been taking measures to divert roads and pipelines to safer areas to avoid the dangers of the fires, but accidents keep happening.
One such accident occurred in the Kujama mining village, which is populated by daily wage earners working in the private coal companies and by low-level employees of BCCL.
A few years ago, Jyoti Kumari, a 15-year-old girl, was going about her morning routine when she fell into a fiery pit that opened from a landslide.
After a three-hour struggle by rescue workers, her seared, lifeless body was brought from the ground.
"Her frame had shrunk," says Shravant Sinha, Kumari's grandfather.
A few days after the incident, BCCL paid the family 20,000 rupees (Dh1,319) in compensation.
Records show that at least one person has died every year in past five years because of landslides induced by mine fires. Yet, given the lack of educational and employment opportunities, the large number of unorganized labourers, earning $2 (Dh7) a day, are left with little choice but to stay and work here.
The coal mining sector is increasingly becoming mechanized and privatized. The emphasis on cost cutting has also resulted inopencast mining (digging the coal from an open pit as opposed to the normal mining practice of tunnels and shafts) and inadequate safety measures.
In the craggy landscape, streaked with dizzyingly deep, rust-coloured opencast pits, men, women and children crawl up and down the sides, past the fire, loose earth and poisonous smoke, carrying basketfuls of coal and wearing flip flops. The earth has been baking here for ages and it is impossible to walk barefoot.
Constant heat, smoke and coal dust make the air highly polluted, leaving nearly 60 per cent of the region's populace with allergies and severe respiratory illnesses such as asthma, breathlessness and rhinitis.
In the poverty-stricken Deepu Dhowra village, Manju Bhuiyan, 37, knows what it's like to make a living while suffering from asthma. Her husband is a migrant labourer currently living in another state. She wakes up around 5am every morning, makes tea for her two children and herself and draws water from a hand pump that is a 30-minute-walk away from her home, before setting off to work. Bundling her sack, she goes to the nearby mine to collect coal that has fallen off trucks. She then walks an hour with a 30-kilogram sack on her head to reach the middlemen, who will supply the coal in the illegal coal market of Jharia and give her a tiny share. With this much hard work she often gets seriously ill, but when asked if she sees a doctor, she just stares with her pale, yellowish eyes, deep set in her thin, sunburnt face.
Most people in her village suffer from the same problems: poverty and poor health. With no education and no other opportunities, they face a desperate situation, barely managing enough food to survive. Their meagre meals include rice and salt. Medical attention doesn't factor into the category of basic needs.
Over the last few years, large sums of money have been spent trying to arrest the fire and stop the large-scale human and environmental devastation. But the problem remains.
BCCL maintains that the coal has to be dug out, the logic being to get the coal before the fire gets it.
"All other scientific methods have failed," says Ashis Kumar Sarkar, director of projects and planning for BCCL. These methods involve filling the holes with sand or water to extinguish the fire and trench cutting to cut off the fire's path from more fuel, among others. According to him, the methods have worked in a "localized way" but are not enough to stop the fire everywhere. As a result, the residents of many affected areas have to move.
To carry out this huge rehabilitation and fire-fighting project, a master plan called Jharia Action Plan (JAP) was established in 2003. The coal ministry allocated about 711.2 billion rupees for the project. The money has been given to BCCL and the Jharia Rehabilitation Development Authority (JRDA) - a Jharkhand government body carrying out the rehabilitation plan.
India has a proven reserve of 93 billion tonnes of unmined coal, sitting under the forested and inhabited territory. Yet due to its demand, India remains the fourth-largest importer of coal in the world. Some experts think the Jharia fires can be doused by filling the mines with inert materials to cut the flow of oxygen, but this would render the coal inaccessible and difficult to mine afterward. The way the supply-and-demand chain stands, the Indian coal industry just cannot afford to put the Jharia fire out.
So, a relocation project is underway to move more than 50,000 people living in dangerous areas. A building complex has been built for refugees in the district of Belgharia - a poorly connected, forested territory about 10km away from Jharia. But those who have moved feel cheated because of the frequent power cuts, a scarcity of water and the remoteness from work sites.
"I have to ride my cycle for about an hour in that jungle to reach the mine," says Mohan Bhuiyan, 33. Sometimes, thefts happen on the way, he says. "No one would hear even if you shout your lungs out."
Most of the people who relocated from Jharia, he says, have yet to receive the compensation money for the move - about 60,000 rupees. "What good is such rehabilitation?" he asks.
The JRDA could not be reached for comment on the situation.
Many do not want to relocate. They feel that the fire-fighting efforts lack sincerity and that BCCL and the private companies want people to move from the lands so they can expand their opencast mining operations. At present, more than 50 per cent of BCCL's total mining operations are done through opencast mining.
However, BCCL insists that the accusations are unfounded and maintains that the problem is on too large a scale to be controlled easily.
"This is the biggest rehabilitation operation in world history, with the largest number of people to be moved," says Sarkar. "Which government initiative goes without people resenting?" he asks. "We are doing the best we can. But yes, there have been some issues regarding [the relocations]. But we are not directly involved with that," he says. It is the Jharkhand government's responsibility for the relocation process.
Caught in the vicious loop of a life-threatening fire and a fire-fighting effort that they don't trust, people are banding together in protest movements. A non-governmental organisation called Jharia Bachao Andolan Samiti (Save Jharia Movement Committee) has been fighting for safe mining, proper rehabilitation and fire fighting since 1997. Many other small groups have also been formed.
Ansari has joined one such protest group in Bokapahari. "We want the government to give us good rehabilitation, otherwise we won't go," he says. According to Ansari, the 60,000 rupees offered by the JRDA is much less than what his land is worth. "Give us the money and we will move on our own. We can build our own house if we get the money."
What if their demands go unheard? "Anything can happen, then," insists Ansari. "This is a matter of our homes. We will guard it with our lives."
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Zombieland: Double Tap
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Stars: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone
Four out of five stars
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: SimpliFi
Started: August 2021
Founder: Ali Sattar
Based: UAE
Industry: Finance, technology
Investors: 4DX, Rally Cap, Raed, Global Founders, Sukna and individuals
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
Barbie
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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No more lice
Defining head lice
Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.
Identifying lice
Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.
Treating lice at home
Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.
Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh135,000
Engine 1.6L turbo
Gearbox Six speed automatic with manual and sports mode
Power 165hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 240Nm @ 1,400rpm 0-100kph: 9.2 seconds
Top speed 420 kph (governed)
Fuel economy, combined 35.2L / 100km (est)
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
T20 World Cup Qualifier A, Muscat
Friday, February 18: 10am - Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm - Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am - Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm - UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am - Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm - Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm – semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm – final
UAE squad: Ahmed Raza (captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
