As you walk down this particular wide but cracked road in a West Bengal village, it is evident that something catastrophic has happened here. There are crumbling houses all around. But one house, in particular, will catch your eye. It is the house of Tapan Pal, a two-storey building that fell one night in July 2020. Its bricks are scattered around. Walking further, you see something amiss about all the houses. Tiled roofs, cracked walls, broken windows, and most of them, abandoned. After all, who would want to stay inside these ticking time bombs? In July 2020, Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), a subsidiary of the centrally-owned Coal India Limited, allegedly conducted two illegal open-cast mining operations in Harishpur. The first was on July 14, 2020, and the second was on July 20, 2020. The local residents allege that ECL did not have the required permissions or environmental clearances to conduct mining operations in such proximity to a residential area. They say that ECL’s illegal mining has led to numerous incidents of land subsidence and underground fires. The collapse of Tapan Pal’s home is a testimony to the land subsidence incidents (gradual sinking of land) that followed post mining. More than 25 houses tumbled due to the subsidence and over 1,000 families vacated and fled from Harishpur in July 2020. Coal mining no longer continues in Harishpur. It has been three years since houses tumbled. Despite the passage of time, there has still been no activity from authorities regarding rehabilitation for those affected.
No jobs, water or basic amenities
The Raniganj coalfield (RCF), the birthplace of coal mining in India, encompasses the entire Asansol-Durgapur region of West Bengal. RCF is India’s second-largest coal field, with 49.17 billion tonnes of coal reserves, spread across West Bengal and the neighbouring state of Jharkhand. Coal mining is a significant development activity in this industrial corridor and has served as a crucial pull factor for migrant workers.
However, according to 2021 research by MCRG, a Kolkata-based research organisation, coal mining development has resulted in land acquisition and displacement, occupational illnesses, a lack of a safe work environment and problems of housing and resettlement.