Slow and unsteady
It is doubtful the master plan will see the light of the day
The relocation plan would have made more sense if it was done soon after a committee set up by the energy ministry in 1976 found underground fire active in the Jharia coalfield. Then, bccl did not even consider relocation. The Jharia Rehabilitation and Development Authority (jrda), responsible for shifting non- bccl employees, estimates that in seven years since the first master plan came up in 1999 the population of the Jharia coalfield risen by over 40 per cent.
The first committee to control fire and prevent subsidence was set up in 1922 under the Union coal ministry. Since then there have been several committees on fighting fire, but little action (see