Energy Bangla - Land Subsides Again in B'pukuria Mine Area

Dinajpur, May 8, 2008: About 25 acres of paddy fields and human habitats in two villages near the mine operated by Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) of Dinajpur have subsided again by 20 to 22 inches. At least 20 houses have developed cracks, according to BCMCL official and local sources in the area.

Boro crops on a vast tract of land went under water seven days ahead of harvest. BCMCL people have installed about three water pumps for draining out the water.

Local people in the two village said that at 9:40pm on the night of May 7, 25 acres land in Kalupara and Balorampur villages subsided with big noise shaking the whole area that forced many people who were already asleep to come out of their houses in great panic. Kalupara chairman Md. Anwar Hossain visited the area amidst the chaos that followed.

With this latest land subsiding, at least three such incidents have occurred since May 2006, according to BCMCL sources.

BCMCL authorities formed a seven-member committee to investigate into the incident. The probe body, headed by Md. Kamruzzaman, DGM Geologist (Mining) of BCMCL, has been asked to submit a report within 10 days.

While contacted, Kamruzzaman informed that at least 200 X 300 metres of land may have caved in initially and 7 houses have developed cracks. He said he, along with other investigation team members, visited the affected area and sought from the authorities some more time to find out what has caused the incident.

While to talking to The Independent, MA Aziz Khan, Managing Director of BCMCL, confirmed the incident near the 1103 Phase, where coal extraction started on January 14. However, officials of BCMCL said they are not sure what really has caused the land to subside.

Sources said that the BCMCL is now extracting coal from Phase 1103, which is not far from the subsided area.

The mine authorities today demarcated the subsided area and took preparations for survey of the affected land, which may have caved in by some degrees as the underground mining work progressed, according to mining experts.

Meanwhile, the affected people demanded compensation for the damage. The authorities assured the people of compensation after conducting a survey of the losses caused by the subsiding of land, according to BCMCL officials.

They observed that land subsiding is a common phenomenon in underground mining. If one foot of coal is extracted from the mine, then the land surface could subside by half a foot.

The mine has already extracted three metres of coal from Phase 1103. The topsoil may have subsided by upto 1.5 metres due to this, the officials added.