A VISIT TO THE LARGEST COAL MINE IN THE WORLD.

A VISIT TO THE LARGEST COAL MINE IN THE WORLD.

‘Be careful’ is the last advice from Mervyn  my son over the mobile,when I was about to enter the coal mine.

Wearing the Wellington shoes made with wooden protection for the feet, helmet and the miners lamp with battery life of 8 hours looked like a hype . It looked like the props where you dress up to act for a stage play!

Wellingtons compared to regular size shoes

Then a walk up to the pit where there are large construction metal girders. The steel girders , near an old lift with large metal wagons on rails forcibly bring to the reality that this was no play! An old carriage like structure with rugged metal walls….. and six of us were packed in with a safety officer with the instruction, never put out your hands, keep lamps on all the time and stick together. The security officer pats you for mobiles, cameras and verifies your lights are on medium or full beam and you are  ready to go.

     Helmet, Miners lights

The lift  takes a long time to go down all the 500 metres ( there is still 450 metres down where the real miners are working). The surface lights initially dim and then everything becomes black and silent ...except the rackety noise of the lift. You can hear the water seeping down the sides, but cannot see it. There are some gaps which you can sense by the noise of the lift on the sides where different levels of coal have been removed. For once, you hope that the lift will not get stuck… there is no red button to summon for help!

                    Dhada and the coal wagon!

At last we reach the acceptable level  for the visitors…500metres. Workers who actually work go down to  950 to 1000 metres below. At the bottom, a lone guard, rings a bell and checks all your safety equipment. ..The tour begins.

There are pictures of gods of all faiths painted on the walls.A fish tank with gold fish, a small man - made pond with eel and some other fish are displayed by the side. There are built areas with tiled walls deceptively looking normal. As you make your way through them, you are aware of a nice draught reaching you . It is apparently blown down by huge fans down the shaft to supply fresh air with several exhaust fans below sucking out the air from below (very similar to the laminar flow we deploy in high tech operation theatres).This keeps the mine free of high temperatures, keeps the air cool and keeps the toxic gases low.

Battery operated locomotive ( not a steam engine with coal!) takes you on rails with 4 coaches through the coal black darkness. One realizes for the first time the importance of the miner’s lights. It will be only beacon to show you where you are in case you are lost!Naturally you cannot move an inch if  your light is off!

As the train chugs along, the walls are covered with layers of coal  alternating with rock.These have formed over millions of years due to the intense heat produced with organic and inorganic matter forming hydrocarbons and thus black coal. The rocky hard areas have iron rods measuring 1.5 metres with screws inserted into them on top and sides to prevent caving in. The areas of coal do not have them. Coal walls to touch are shiny and they crumble. The coal here is 99.9% pure and is used in steel industries to make the steel less brittle.Walls are protected with all sorts of other  padding as well. But the sheer knowledge of 500 metres of land over and above it makes your heart flutter.

Final Coal Product in its purity & beauty!

By the side of the rails, there is a steam of running water and this is the only noise you hear in the dark tunnel. I have never seen so many tunnels criss crossing such as this. At one point having got off the train to walk, there was an explosive noise by the side… and suddenly a geyser of water and steam appeared. Such is the pressure of water, and gasses that this  happens often. A motor immediately kicked in automatically and the water was sucked by the pumps. The excess water suddenly filled up the small stream which now ran upto the brim! These safety features are the ones which prevent the mine from flooding.

This makes one realize that though everything looks safe, all of a sudden nature can unfurl its fury at the humans.The realization dawns on you that you are 500 metres down ( some workers even 650 meters below us!) the ground level. In other words, we are at the bottom of a deep well and the water is constantly pumped out at the rate of 180,00,000 gallons of water per day. If this were to theoretically fail, then the mine is flooded!

There were at least 2 first aid stations at our level; there are totally 12 levels!

There were facilities for enriched oxygen inhalation flasks which can be ripped only in the case of emergency fire. Fire with coal sucks out the oxygen and also produces the killer carbon monoxide gas. In such an emergency, the oxygen from these flasks can keep men alive till help arrives to put out the fire. There are fire services to put out normal fire, electrical fire as well as oil fire. There are many electrical machines down – each working automatically without need for any human help.

Moonidhi coal mine of BCCL in Dhabad is the largest coal mine in the world. It produces 500 tons of coal everyday and it can make 3000 tons of coal daily. The coal mining is done at a much lower level and coal is transported rapidly by conveyer belt up. Coal is collected in storages which are transported to the surface in special lifts of 10 tons  at a time .The coal is very pure ( and soft) and hence used only in steel production.

I had read ‘Citadel’ the book by A J Cronin on the mining communities of South Wales coal mines- ranging over three generations as early as in 1937. Andrew Manson newly qualified doctor, arrives from Scotland to work as assistant to Doctor Page in the small Welsh mining town of Blaenelly. He realizes that Page is an invalid and that he has to do all the work for a meagre wage. Shocked by the unsanitary conditions he finds, he works to improve matters and receives the support of Dr Philip Denny, a cynical semi-alcoholic. And the story describes how the situation of the poor miner improves.

I could well imagine how the old miners used to work with lanterns, spades and poisonous gases ( carbon monoxide) with their own fears of sudden noises, buried under the caving in and the flooding of water .  But for their sacrifice and selfless service, one could not imagine such a successful mining industry.

The positives of the life below were quiet, peaceful, breezy atmosphere without any noise, pollution, dust, plastics or even mosquitoes! On other hand, the  dangers of water floods, poisonous gases, long hours in the dark, maybe areas of increased heat, caving in of the mine,explosions, fire hazard and constant exposure to coal dust were real.

After an hour of walking around and exit via the same lift, one cannot but wonder at the marvel of nature, in all its glory, richness, history, uncontrolled fury and power to protect us or destroy us. One also wonders at the selfishness of man as one steps out onto the roads filled with traffic fumes, noisy horns, spitting, plastics, rubbish everywhere…


Where is the smile gone now,eh? 1 hour down the shaft.. relieved to be back on surface!!

If only we can keep this earth anywhere half as beautiful and uncorrupted on its surface as it is 500 metres below, we would have given humanity and all our children the greatest of gifts of life!

Many undertake pilgrimages to hills and other countries; a pilgrimage trip to meet mother earth down by half kilometer immensely increases your faith in nature and a superhuman presence!

Acknowledgements:

To the BCCL staff and doctors who arranged a special trip for us down the mines.

Mrs and Dr Satish Midha for enabling this trip to materialize
Special mention to Dr Agarwal the gynecologist and who gave us so much information on the mines and the wonderful medical work which BCCL is doing.

Dr Sayandev Dasgupta for the transport.

With Dr Dasgupta

             With Staff of BCCL,Mrs Drs Midha, Dasgupta,Ramesh, John &Garg

        

FROM THE CENTER OF CYCLONE THANE

FROM THE CENTER OF CYCLONE THANE

My wife and I returned after a train journey back to Chennai at 14 hours on 30 Jan 2011 from Trichy. True there was a cyclone warning on the telly- a huge cyclone was going to pass via Cuddalore and Pondicherry that night and travelers were advised by weather department to avoid coastal routes that day.Our earlier plan was to drive in 2 cars that afternoon to Chidambaram a small town near Cuddaore to leave my son Pravin with his wife and spend the new year weekend with them.After consulting some well meaning friends we decided to stick to the old plan, but shift to one vehicle for travel- namely the sturdy SUV Scorpio.

It was raining a bit when we started out at 1430 hours on 30 Jan, 2011. We took turns at the wheel , generally avoided Pondy and the coastal route and reached Chidambaram by 1730 hours. The sky was grey and cloudy and it rained a bit in patches on the way.

When we put on the news on TV that night the weather forecast was scary with the police evacuating all the coastal folks with the advice to the rest of us to stay indoors. It was also strange that there were no birds around; the animals - the stray dogs, cows et al which we see by the roadside were conspicuous by their absence. Another strange thing was that electricity kept going off after 9 pm.I know it as I was trying to read 'Timeline 'by Michael Crichton... in small print!. Finally all the electrical power went off and I had to only rely on a candle to read my book. The rain had picked up pace and there was a fair amount of wind.

At 4 am on 31 Dec - saturday, I woke up with the windows banging , doors slamming. There was a constant howl and it was of course dark when I looked out of the window.The cyclone was in full swing. This was my first time in a cyclone. The power was out and no TV; electrical charge on the computer was out and no internet too.It was too early to ring up friends to find out what was really happening in Chidambaram.

Over the next 3 hours, we saw nature in all her fury. There was no sun rise that day, the day just go lighter and finally we could see what was happening around. Though I tried to get some videos of the early 4 or 5 am views of the scenery, it was too dark. There were so many bizarre events.Though it was constantly drizzling, the downpour was horizontal due to the heavy winds. There was a deafening noise all around as though we were inside a cement mixer. Every tree in sight plant, shrub or grass was wavering with the wind. The furious cyclone broke branches, uprooted large and very large trees, tore down the power supply by sheer uprooting of the electrical poles; there were flying missiles in the form of stones, objects around at terrific speed.No animals were about.

The clouds were rushing in the sky at a terrific pace I had never seen before.... like some of dream scenes one sees in movies when the hero remembers his past in a flash!My son who tried to go to his hospital for work at 8 am had to return as his scorpio was being tossed about in the wind like a tincan and there were too many fallen trees blocking all the exits in the street. After 0930 am , the wind velocity dropped a bit and the rain took over. Still the winds continued till 1 pm or but more tolerable.

The devastation had to be seen to be believed. First and the most prominent change was - no electrical power. So no TV, and the cell phones needed charging . Water was running short everywhere as we needed power to pump up the water. Food was in short supply in shops which had uniformly closed everywhere. No milk, petrol had to be pumped with generators.

My wife and I took the journey back on 31 Jan cutting short the vacation. We started out by a different long about route to Chennai as the travelers on the way told us to avoid Pondy which had suffered severely. 3 large multi axial vehicles which lugged giant wings of solar power generators had been overturned by the wind. Large containers with heavy metallic cabinets had been rolled aside by the gusty Thane. Telephone polls, electrical poles, trees, house tops had been totally displaced.

But there was plenty of human spirit around. People were helpful, the few cars on the road were very considerate to the people in the middle on the road. There was no honking by the motorists. The number of hotels which were open was limited. Less traffic, less people on the road, less animals on the road today similar to some 3 or 4 decades ago. But there was some sunshine about at least in the morning. We reached Chennai by a circuitous route after 5 and half hours. Even as I write, in Chennai , it is drizzling.

Very severe cyclone Thane was the strongest tropical cyclone in 2011.It left at least 33 dead in Tamil nadu and Pondy. Fishing industry was affected a great deal along with the agriculture due to gross destruction of the crops.Government of Tamil Nadu had warned people well before and and had ensured that most of the electrical power had returned within 36 hours which must have been an enormous task by itself. Naturally it would take much longer to rehabilitate the state considering 700 fisher men who had been stranded and the money needed was to the tune of 150 crores of rupees.

I was indeed much relieved to be back in Chennai during the aftermath of the heavies cyclone having travelled into it and back. I do hope that I would appreciate life much more after this episode of adventurous holiday. Happy New and Blessed year in 2012 to each and everyone of you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdDTLXftvno&list=UU8KZuXlWWO3QzoR3u0edsGQ&index=1&feature=plcp