Land subsidence again at ECL mine in Bengal, three injured

Kolkata, Oct 19 : After a weeks gap, a coal mine of Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL), a wholly subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), on Thursday witnessed another incident of land subsidence at Andal in West Bengals West Burdwan district.

Three individuals, including a superintendent of ECL, were critically injured and were admitted to a local hospital where they are currently undergoing treatment.

The event of land subsidence took place at ECL’s North Jambad Colliery at Andal.Three persons injured have been identified as the ECL supervisor Saddam Mohanti and mine workers Manoj Kumar Bhuniya and Asusthoh Maji.

Following the incident, the coal mine workers and the local people protested near the mine.They alleged that the three persons remained trapped for quite some time and the authorities did not act promptly in rescuing them and taking them to the hospital.

They alleged there were frequent events of land subsidence-related accidents in the ECL mines just because of the lackadaisical approach of the authorities as regards to safety.

On October 12, three persons were killed following a similar incident of land subsidence at ECL’s Naraynkuri Mine at Raniganj also in West Burdwan district.

Although officially, the local police quoted the death figure at three, the local BJP legislator Agnimitra Paul claimed the figure to be at least seven.

src/dpb