Coal at what cost?

Eight year old, curly hair wearing dirty knickers, no shirt playing in sweltering heat with his favorite toy, a JCB to excavate coal and load it in a tiny little truck. He pushes that toy truck loaded with coal over a crack spewing fumes and smoke. That’s a day in the life of a kid in Jharia, A small town in Jharkhand, the town is a part of the district which is called as the coal capital of India, Jharia alone has almost 60000 cr (us 12 billion $) worth of coal under its belly which has been burning since 1916.

October 7th 2008 I was in Calcutta, the city was lit up with millions of lighbulbs, loudspeakers blaring music at high decibel, shops, restaurants, flea markets, theatres, buses, trams, rickshaws…it looked like someone has switched on a big halogen lamp over the city, it was the biggest festival in Kolkata, I was in transit to travel to a Jharia assisting British photographer peter caton for documenting a place which is often referred to as “Hell on Earth” We took an early morning train “black diamond” to Dhanbad from Howrah station.

The parking lot at dhanbad was choc a bloc with 100’s of ambassadors that ply as taxis, we hired one with a driver named salim who said he knows all the “phayar “ places in Jharia at the back of his hand. We started out day around 1:00 pm after having lunch.

Jharia is a small town in the state of Jharkhand, its claim to fame is that 60000 crores worth of coal is buried under the town and has been burning nonstop since 1916, there are as many as 70 sites spread all over Jharia where you can see the ground beneath your feet breathing fire. The villages in Jharia literally breathe coal. One such village is bokapahadi exactly opposite rajapur coal mines, all men in the village work in the mines while women and children collect coal illegally from the mining dump to earn some extra food for the family.

Hundreds of families breathing toxic fumes of coal which has been burning under their homes for generations, most of them suffering from breathing disorders, 90% kids don’t go to school, no electricity struggling day after day for every meal on the land which they inherited from their forefathers. Why are they suffering so much? The answer is simple, they were born on coal reserves worth 12 billion us $, they are living on the source of energy which is pumping India’s GDP.

So the question I want to ask is why are these villagers in Jharia not party to all the development happening in the country . During durga pooja in Calcutta when thousands of homes switch on their first plasma tv why does Shankar bhuiya’s family continue to eat their modest meal in the light of a kerosene lamp? Coal for sure is destroying the planet but is it doing any good to humanity?