Mahanadi Coalfields Limited suffers loss of Rs 25 crore
A fire has swept through a coal mine in Orissa’s Talcher area, destroying assets worth nearly Rs 25 crore. The fire erupted at Mahanadi Coalfields Limited's Bharatpur mine on December 23, 2009, and it took authorities more than ten days to bring it under control.
The fire halted coal supplies to a nearby NALCO plant, affecting operations at its captive power generation facility.
A half-a-kilometre haul-road, at another open cast mine in Anantapur, caved in on December 24, complicating the fire fighting operations at the burning mine. However, no reports of casualties have come in from either location. According to sources, authorities were slow in responding to the Bharatpur mine fire, allowing it to spread and grow. People in surrounding villages have spent sleepless nights ever since the fire began.
The NALCO plant, located in Angul district, needs about 15,000 tonnes of coal per day to run its units, which is supplied from the Bharatpur mines. However, the logistics was affected because of the damage to the conveyer belt that fed the system. NALCO was forced to stop few of its power generation units due to shortage of coal.
However, MCL sources revealed that fire in coal field has become a regular phenomenon as coal is vulnerable to fire. "We used modern techniques to bring the fire under control, but the thick curtain of smoke hindered fire fighting operations", MCL public relations officer Dikken Mehra said.
On the other hand, the state government deputed senior officials to review the occurrence of the incident. The state development commissioner S.P. Nanda and other officials of the state Pollution Control Board visited the Bharatpur mines to gather a first-hand report on the mishap and subsequent reports of landslides and soil cracks. The DIG (west-central), Talcher, Lalit Das said, “The senior officials visited the spot to review the situation." However, he refused to comment on the cause of the fire. "It is quite a common fire and investigation is on to ascertain the cause. Therefore, it is difficult to put responsibility on anyone for the incident right now”, Das said.
The sources also revealed that the mines had more than seven lakh metric tonnes of coal. The fire devoured major portion of the mine as no timely action was taken to transport the raw material. The cause of the fire, however, was believed to be the burning coal beneath the road. Meanwhile, the MCL authorities have constituted a committee to probe the incident that has resulted in a loss of about Rs 25 crore to the company.
A fire has swept through a coal mine in Orissa’s Talcher area, destroying assets worth nearly Rs 25 crore. The fire erupted at Mahanadi Coalfields Limited's Bharatpur mine on December 23, 2009, and it took authorities more than ten days to bring it under control.
The fire halted coal supplies to a nearby NALCO plant, affecting operations at its captive power generation facility.
A half-a-kilometre haul-road, at another open cast mine in Anantapur, caved in on December 24, complicating the fire fighting operations at the burning mine. However, no reports of casualties have come in from either location. According to sources, authorities were slow in responding to the Bharatpur mine fire, allowing it to spread and grow. People in surrounding villages have spent sleepless nights ever since the fire began.
The NALCO plant, located in Angul district, needs about 15,000 tonnes of coal per day to run its units, which is supplied from the Bharatpur mines. However, the logistics was affected because of the damage to the conveyer belt that fed the system. NALCO was forced to stop few of its power generation units due to shortage of coal.
However, MCL sources revealed that fire in coal field has become a regular phenomenon as coal is vulnerable to fire. "We used modern techniques to bring the fire under control, but the thick curtain of smoke hindered fire fighting operations", MCL public relations officer Dikken Mehra said.
On the other hand, the state government deputed senior officials to review the occurrence of the incident. The state development commissioner S.P. Nanda and other officials of the state Pollution Control Board visited the Bharatpur mines to gather a first-hand report on the mishap and subsequent reports of landslides and soil cracks. The DIG (west-central), Talcher, Lalit Das said, “The senior officials visited the spot to review the situation." However, he refused to comment on the cause of the fire. "It is quite a common fire and investigation is on to ascertain the cause. Therefore, it is difficult to put responsibility on anyone for the incident right now”, Das said.
The sources also revealed that the mines had more than seven lakh metric tonnes of coal. The fire devoured major portion of the mine as no timely action was taken to transport the raw material. The cause of the fire, however, was believed to be the burning coal beneath the road. Meanwhile, the MCL authorities have constituted a committee to probe the incident that has resulted in a loss of about Rs 25 crore to the company.
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