A Report on the Rehabilitation Project for the people residing in the
unstable locations of Raniganj Coalfield Area.
1.
Brief Introduction:
The Raniganj coalfield represents the easternmost coal basin in the Damodar Valley Region and
major part of it falls in the Bardhaman district of West Bengal.
In Raniganj coalfield, superior quality non-coking coal occurring in thick seams at shallow depth
was mined indiscriminately leaving with very small size pillars. During the 19th century, the
Raniganj coalfield was the most important producer of coal in India. Coal seams nearer to the
surface were worked by Bord & Pillar method only. Entries were made through either small
shallow shafts or inclines. Small areas round the entries were worked manually and pillars were
reduced indiscriminately that caved-in in some places.
In the old days when the surface was not densely populated the operators had extracted as much
coal as possible without stowing or supporting. The surface rights were generally not acquired.
In course of time when these holdings were abandoned habitation started growing over the old
abandoned workings first slowly and subsequently at a rapid pace. Growth of population took
place for various reasons, such as general growth of population, migration of population from
distant villages to areas adjoining coal mines in search of livelihood and growth of business and
industry in coal belt. This was further accelerated after nationalization of coal mines in 1973.
Large numbers of pot holes have occurred indicating ground movement. Aging of pillars and
subsequent weathering effects are continuous. These old workings are now waterlogged.
Equilibrium is being maintained in the old waterlogged workings due to hydrostatic pressure.
Collapses can not be ruled out once water level is lowered.
With the growing commercial importance of Asansol sub-division, various townships have come
up during the last century and further growth is going on, even though some of the areas fall
among those declared unsafe by Directorate General of Mines Safety.
Stability of strata is disturbed when mining is done. Subsidence of surface is an inherent
phenomenon associated with mining and that is why mining is taken as accepted form for change
of land use all over the world.
Unplanned and unsystematic coal mining activities, spread over decades during past in shallow
deposits up to about 60m depth poses serious problem of subsidence. In Raniganj Coalfield
about 8.0 sq.km. of inhabited area is under the threat of subsidence. Thus hydrostatic pressure is
holding these areas and occurrence of subsidence cannot be ruled out once the water level is
disturbed.
The old abandoned mines underlying the inhabited areas are mostly water logged and
unapproachable. Working of lower seams may induce cracks which eventually will drain out the
water. Once the old workings are dewatered, subsidence is likely to take place immediately.
After the subsidence breathing of air will cause spontaneous combustion. Once the workings are
on fire, environmental problems will become more acute.
Due to possible subsidence or pot holing, there has been agitation demonstration and public hue
and cry.
Various committees submitted reports regarding the problem and made their recommendations.
Since no suitable technology was available to stabilize such inaccessible waterlogged workings,
many of them have recommended evacuation of habitations as the only alternative.
In December 1996, Govt. of India constituted a high Power Committee under the Chairmanship
of Secretary, Ministry of Coal with other members from the Govt. of Bihar & west Bengal,
Planning Commission, DGMS, Ministry of Labour, Chairman CIL, CMDs of ECL, BCCL &
CMPDI with director (Tech), Ministry of Coal as member Secretary to review the problems of
fire & subsidence in Jharia and Raniganj coal fields and suggest measures to deal with problems
of existing habitation on subsidence / fire prone areas.
As decided by the high powered committee in 1996, it became extremely necessary to prepare a
comprehensive Master Plan to deal with the problems of fire, rehabilitation and subsidence
control in RCF of ECL. CMPDI, RI-1, Asansol was entrusted to generate base line data for
preparation of Master Plan. Accordingly, a comprehensive Master Plan to deal with the problems
of fire, rehabilitation and subsidence was prepared by CMPDI, Asansol, for Raniganj Coal Field
in February, 1999.
Master Plan 1999 envisaged the following:
A.
B.
C.
D.
Subsidence control of 59 unstable and controllable inhabitated sites through hydropneumatic stowing within a time frame of 20 years in four phases, each of 5 years
duration
Rehabilitation of 8891 families from the 80 unstable and uncontrollable sites within a
time frame of 20 years, in 4 phases, each of 5 years duration. Total no. of population
proposed to be rehabilitated were 47376 from 80 localities.
Diversion of Rail/road etc. in 7 locations covering an affected length of 1.8 KM
In addition, dealing with surface fire in 7 areas covering 640.80 ha.
However necessity of revision of the Master Plan was felt afterwards and as an outcome of writ
petition (Civil) No. 387/97 filed by Sri Haradhan Roy, ex-Member of Parliament in 1997, an
Action Plan for shifting and rehabilitation, dealing with fire/diversion and stabilization of
unstable areas was prepared in April ’03. This Action Plan was prepared based on Master
Plan’99. Afterwards, DGMS constituted a committee and submitted its report in Aug’05. One of
the observations of the committee was:
“During the course of deliberations, the matter of long term stability of subsidence prone areas
after undertaking control measures like hydro-pneumatic back filling (with sand), came up again
and again.
In this method the efficacy of sand stowing through boreholes from surface to stabilize suspect
subsidence prone areas was discussed in detail. The committee could conclude that as there are
no scientific prediction methodologies available to check long-term stability, it may not be
possible to certify that the areas thus stabilized can stand unaffected for a long time. The sand
stowed by this method will however certainly lessen the risk of subsidence and may allow some
time by which permanent measures like evacuation/rehabilitation of the area can be undertaken.
However all the areas/locations identified for stabilization must be considered for rehabilitation
at the earliest”
Finally the Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India vide its letter no. 22020/2/2005-CRC dt.15.12.05
directed for preparation of revised PIB note with the following consideration:
 All the areas where stabilisation through hydraulic stowing was proposed now have to be
considered for total re-settlement.
 It is being suggested that instead of shifting the affected people from the endangered
areas in a number of small townships, it would be prudent to develop large satellite
townships through the reputed builders/building organizations providing necessary
civic amenities to motivate the people for shifting.
With this consideration in mind, CMPDIL, RI-1,Asansol prepared a Master Plan in August, 2006
which was updated in April, 2008. Finally the Govt. of India approved the same in August, 2009.
As per this revised Plan inhabitants of all the 139 unsafe subsidence-prone locations falling in
Raniganj Coal Field Area (RCFA) will have to be rehabilitated in a few satellite townships to be
developed in the non-coal bearing stratum as per the Master Plan.
Now for the implementation of this Master Plan and for giving resettlement to all the residents of
139 declared unstable locations, demographic survey of the affected sites, identification of the
Project Affected Families, valuation of the structures and the land for assessing the amount of
compensation payable, verification of land records of the PAF are required to be done.
2.
Necessity of Land Acquisition:
For setting up of two large satellite townships at Bonjemari and Gourandi to give settlement to
the population to be evacuated from the unstable locations scattered across the entire Raniganj
Coal Fields Area, acquisition of land at those areas is extremely essential as there is no land of
ECL or Government land. The land earmarked for Bonjemari and Gourandi for construction of
satellite townships for rehabilitation of the people residing in subsidence prone area belongs to
private individuals i.e. rayati. So the acquisition of land is felt necessary for such purpose. To
avoid serious casualties and damage of properties due to sudden collapse of landmass and
outbreak of fire it is highly imperative to commence the rehabilitation process as soon as
possible and such work can only be started once the townships are built up for giving
resettlement. So, acquisition of land at the two above mentioned sites as per the provisions of the
Land Acquisition Act, 1894 is the basic requirement for commencement of the work.
To protect the life and property of the people residing in unstable locations in RCFA is a
Constitutional obligation of the State and the requirement of land under this project arises for
execution of a scheme sanctioned by the President of India. Therefore, the acquisition of land
proposed to be made under this scheme is entirely for the Public Purpose as per Section 3f (v) of
the Act-I of 1894.
3.
Requiring Body:
For the implementation of the Rehabilitation Project in RCFA sanctioned by the Govt. of India,
ADDA has been selected as the implementing agency on behalf of Government of West Bengal.
As such ADDA will be the Requiring Body in relation to this acquisition of land.
The cost of acquisition of land and payment of compensation will be done by ADDA out the
funds of the Rehabilitation Project to be received from the Govt. of India through ECL.
4.
Total area proposed to be acquisitioned with justification:
Under the approved Master Plan for Raniganj Coal Field Area it is indicated that total no of
33196 families consisting of a populations size of 180263 is required to be rehabilitated. The
figure as shown therein is merely indicative and based on certain assumptions. This figure is
likely to increase during the conduct of ground survey, if the rate of population growth and inmigrations in the Asansol- Durgapur industrial belt over the past few years is kept in mind.
The indicative requirement of land at resettlement site has been shown as 2214 acres in the
approved Master Plan which is based on the assumption of existence of 33196 house holds
residing in the unstable locations. But the anticipated increase in the number of families to be
rehabilitated as stated in the preceding para may result in augmentation of the requirement of
land at resettlement site. Moreover considerable quantum of land needs to be left out for various
other reasons such as roughness of terrain, existence of green fields etc. at the time of township
construction. This apart, requirement of land in resettlement sites can go up due to demand for
excess land by the Project Affected People, whose provision is there also in the approved R & R
Package. So, there is the need for acquisition of some amount of excess land.
Considering all these aspects and after completion of field survey in the locality the following
quantum of land is found to be suitable as part of the total project for the purpose and proposed
to be acquisitioned For Bonjemari Township
1300 acres
For Gourandi Township
2300 acres.
5.
Action Taken and Present Status:
A. Regarding Land Acquisition for the proposed rehabilitation site:
I. For the purpose of setting up of two townships at Bonjemari and Gourangdih for
providing resettlement to the people to be evicted from the unstable sites in RCFA,
preliminary ground survey was conducted, plots proposed to be acquisitioned were
identified & key maps were prepared. Thereafter a proposal for acquisition of land to the
tune of 1300 acres in Bonjemari & 2300 acres in Gourangdih was submitted to the
Commerce & Industries Dept. of Govt. of W.B. on 04-06-2010 for according Cabinet
Approval. Cabinet has accorded approval for this acquisition of land on 18-08-10.
II. In the meantime, LA proposals in respect of Bonjemari site have been prepared & kept
ready at our end.
III. One LA proposal of Mouza Ramchandrapur in Bonjemari site has been submitted to
the Collector, Burdwan on 11th October ’2010. Total area of land in the said proposal is
23.55 acre. Another LA Case of Mouza Kaladabar having area of 46.22 acres is waiting
for dispatch to LA Collector, Burdwan. Other proposals are also ready at this end but we
are facing difficulty in submitting those proposals for want of sufficient amount of fund.
IV. Requirement of fund for the proposed acquisition process was assessed considering the
prevailing market value of land at those places and sent to ECL Authorities for placing
the same to ADDA. Several communications were sent to ECL Authorities for placing of
requisite fund for acquisition purpose thereafter. But unfortunately no fund has been
received till date.
B. Regarding engagement of Agency for conducting Demographic Survey:
I. ADDA has engaged an agency of national repute viz. Xavier Institute of Social Services,
Ranchi for the purpose of conducting demographic survey & valuation in all the
identified unstable locations in RCFA, following due procedure of open bidding for such
selection of Agency and appointment.
II. Work order was issued to them for taking up of the work in 7 locations initially on
02/09/10. Thereafter a sensitization cum awareness generation program for Samdih,
Kenda and Sanctoria areas were conducted by the District Administration, ADDA, ECL
authorities & CMPDIL jointly on 15/09/10, 22/11/10 and 28/01/11 respectively where the
residents of the affected areas and the local representatives were present. These meetings
were held with a view to facilitate the survey process and to ensure that the
investigators/surveyors can collect the required data without any hindrance.
III. Thereafter XISS has taken up the survey work and has completed the same in two
unstable locations, i.e. Samdih of P.S. - Salanpur and Kenda of P.S. - Jamuria. At present
they are working at Sanctoria of P.S. – Kulti. Total household surveyed at Samdih – 132
and at Kenda – 1533 & Sanctoria – 1400. (except valuation of houses)
IV. So far as the Survey of XISS, Ranchi engaged for demographic survey in the subsidence
prone areas of RCFA is concerned, it appears from the progress of the work that above
noted agency will not be able to complete the work before December, 2011. So, to speed
up the work XISS has been instructed to engage more investigators and valuers in such a
manner so that the work may be completed within December, 2011. Alternatively the
engagement of more agencies for completing this work has been approved in the H.P.C.C
held on 15.02.2011.
V. Regarding allotment of fund for Demographic Survey work, an amount of Rs. 93.214
lakh has been sanctioned as per Master Plan dealing with Fire, Subsidence &
Rehabilitation in Raniganj Coal Field area. But no fund has yet been allotted to ADDA
for smooth conducting the Demographic Survey and Valuation. The above noted amount
is urgently required.
Chief Executive Officer
Asansol Durgapur Development Authority