An official said that in the early hours of Saturday, four people were killed and four others were injured after part of one abandoned coal mine during “illegal” mining in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand.
“Four bodies have been recovered from the accident site, while four injured were rescued,” said the Deputy Shadow Officer (SDO) of Ramgarh Anurag Kumar Tiwari.
The deceased was identified as MD Imtiaz, Rameshwar Manjhi, Vakil Karmali and Nirmal Munda. They all came from nearby villages.
A police officer said that relief and rescue operations have been stopped after removing the debris.
Ramgarh SDPO Parmeshwar Prasad said, “There is no possibility of getting trapped inside any person because the debris has been removed.”
SP Ajay Kumar said that the abandoned mine was of Central Coalfields Limited.
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He said, “The company has its security personnel to prevent such illegal activities. We increased their cooperation to CCL after receiving information.”
A part of the villagers demonstrated near the CCL Karma Project Office to protest the incident and demand compensation.
Accusing CCL of negligence, the protesters demanded compensation of Rs 20 lakh for the families of the deceased and Rs 5 lakh for the injured.
A villager Kalam said, “The company left the mine open. Poor villagers went to extract coal for cooking, and the incident happened. If there was barricading and adequate protection in the mine, the accident could have been avoided,” MD Kalam, a villager said.
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A meeting of villagers and CCL management also took place on compensation. The result has not yet been known.
Kuju police outpost in -charge Ashutosh Kumar Singh said that some villagers were involved in “illegal” mining of coal on the site after the incident.
Officials said that the district administration issued a show-cause notice to the CCL management on the incident.
Union Minister Annapurna Devi called the incident unfortunate and said that the state government should be sensible and should take immediate steps to investigate the recurrence of such incidents.
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“It appears that the state government is ignorant and has nothing to do with such incidents. I will urge the state government to take action on such an incident,” he said.
The leader of the opposition demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident to Babulal Marandi of BJP.
He said in a post on X, “I am very sad with this news. Many of our laborers are feared to be buried in illegal coal mines. I pray to God for their safety and express my deep condolences to the bereaved families,” he said in a post on X.
He also claimed that it was not an accident, but a murder.
He said, “This is due to the negligence of the corrupt and incompetent government, which shuts up an eye for the illegal business going on in a broad daylight,” he said.
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Marandi questioned how the coal mafia was working there if the CCL closed the mine.
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