Coal India arm begins drone survey of areas impacted by Dhanbad mine gas leak

Dhanbad: A team of experts from Coal India arm CMPDIL on Friday began a drone survey of localities affected by gas emission from underground mines in Bharat Coking Coal Ltd's colliery areas in Jharkhand.

Gas leakage was earlier reported from Rajput Basti, Masjid Muhalla and Area No. 5 - which come under the Putki-Balihari colliery area of BCCL, with authorities deciding to shift around 1,000 locals.

A woman allegedly died, while 12 people fell sick after "carbon monoxide" leaked from these mines in Kenduadih Basti earlier this month.


CMPDIL official Bhubnesh Kumar Gupta , who is leading the team, said the drone survey is being conducted upon the directive of BCCL to find out reasons behind the gas emission, identify the leakage points and initiate measures to plug those.

Members of the team Ashok Kumar and Sandeep Hazra said the exercise is being undertaken in a 400-metre radius of the affected places.

"We are collecting the data and will submit it to the Ranchi office (of CMPDIL), where experts would analyse the reasons and bring out solutions to contain it," Gupta said.

It will take 15 to 20 days for analyising the data, he said.

Based on the survey report, the actual number of houses and residents in the affected areas will also be identified.

The team members said that besides the drone study, a thermal gun survey is also being conducted to measure the temperature of the affected areas.

"The maximum temperature in the affected areas was recorded as 22 degrees Celsius, which is normal for the winter season in the region," Gupta said.

The Ranchi-based Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Ltd (CMPDI) is a fully owned subsidiary of Coal India Ltd.

Officials said earlier surveys in the region did not assess the number of houses and people impacted due to gas emission during the last 11 days.