26 September 1995 Ghazlitand Khan incident – 29 years later, Dhanbad still trembles remembering that black night.

Dhanbad: On 26 September 1995, at 9:15 pm, there was a sudden power failure in Ghajlitad Colliery, Dhanbad. The shadow of darkness has not subsided till date amid torrential rains. The black earnings of coal, the soot of corruption and the negligence of the officers, that black night still casts darkness in those 64 houses whose lamps did not even get the open sky for their last breath. They were buried forever several meters underground. After 25 years, on 26 September 2024, we get goosebumps remembering that fateful night in Ghajlitad, Dhanbad.

Ghajalitand was an accident like Chas drain.

From Abdul Wahid to Lodha Manjhi's family, this date is such an unforgettable night that no laborer working in the mines gets lucky. 25 years ago, on 30 September 1995, Ghajilitand Colliery of Dhanbad once again repeated the Chas Nalla accident. The new generation may not even know about this terrible accident that happened a few years ago in the new century, but the way the game of black money from coal is going on with the collusion of government and non-government is inviting another accident, they need to learn a lesson from it. The date is 26 September.

Qatari river brought disaster

The people of the older generation working in Ghazlitand still shudder remembering that terrible night when the Katari River, which was almost dry in summer, suddenly swelled with so much water that all the mines nearby became victims of the deluge. Although small and big accidents used to happen frequently in the Ghajalitand coal mine, which was started in the year 1896, the answers to the questions raised by this accident in 1995 have not been found till date.

64 stranded laborers kept pleading for help

On 26 September 1995, 92 workers had marked their attendance in the shift from 4:00 pm to 12:00 am, of which 10 were contract employees. By 9:00 pm, 6 tons of coal had been extracted. Around 9:15 the power suddenly went off. It was drizzling but by 8:00 pm there was heavy rain in Dhanbad and especially in Jharia area. Due to no electricity, man winding was done and 28 persons including 10 contract employees were evacuated. The remaining 64 workers were continuously sending signals till 11:00 pm that they should be taken out. These workers gathered at pit number six of Angar Pathra.

Suddenly crores of liters of water entered the mine

The phones had been switched off and signals were being given continuously from inside to run the winding engine. 64 laborers several meters underground had full hope that they would be evacuated safely. They were waiting for help. Here Card Domar Mahato, who was monitoring the Qatari river, came at 12:00 in the night and informed that the river was flowing above the danger mark. In his statement given to the Justice NK Mukherjee Commission, Mahato also said twice that he told Vilas Mahato, who was on night shift, that no one should be allowed inside. According to the statement given to the investigation commission, Domar Mahato along with Jibril Mian inspected the Qatari river and was surprised to see that the water level was rising and falling. He immediately ran towards the bungalow of security officers and managers and informed them about the danger. Warned. However, the inquiry commission did not fully believe this statement of Domar importance.

12:45 am Qatari river embankment breached

At 12:45 in the night the embankment of the Qatari River broke and all the water suddenly started disappearing. It is obvious that this water was entering the coal mines. Not only this, Rajatalab of Katras broke, which contained about 275 crore liters of water and that too got mixed into the Katari river. Here inside the Ghajalitand mine, the workers were still waiting for help. Domar Mahato informed the safety manager and the manager about the danger. When Safety Manager PL Verma and Manager Nagendra Singh ran towards Fit No. 7 of Angar Pathra, they came to know that 6 laborers were still working inside, they were immediately taken out somehow. After this, people reached near the pit number area but due to no electricity and breakdown of the boiler, it became difficult to evacuate the workers. Somehow he was sent to pit number 4.

Qatari river changed course

Here the water of Qatari river was rapidly entering inside the mines. By 1:30 in the night, the Katari river changed its course and started filling Ghajalitand as well as other nearby mines with water. All measures taken to save the workers trapped below were proving useless. When the officers reached meet number 4, they could hear the heavy sound of water falling from inside. Water had filled up to 9 meters.

All records of rain broken in Dhanbad

There was heavy rain in Dhanbad that day. Rain in Ghazal Iran had broken all records till now. On 26 September 1995, there was 360 mm rain which was 3 times more than the normal. Ghazalitind, Katras Chetu Dih, Katras Project Salempur coal mines were filled with 3000 million gallons of water. The underground mine had been converted into a reservoir. The death of 64 people had plunged the entire Koylanchal into mourning. Even at that time, BCCL did not have sufficient resources to remove water from the mines; help was sought from China and Ukraine. After running the motor continuously for several months, the water could not be completely drained out. Many times incidents of fire in underwater coal mines have come to light.

Formation of commission for investigation

The government constituted a commission under the chairmanship of Justice NK Mukherjee to investigate this accident. The commission submitted its report on June 26, 1998, but by then the government had closed the investigation. Justice Mukherjee in his report clearly held the Directorate General of Mine Safety responsible for this accident. The responsibility of senior officials of BCCL was also fixed. The report said that the Directorate General of Mining Safety had given permission to destroy the coal barrier between 4 UAP section of Ghajalitand coal mine and NP section of Angar Pathra coal mine due to which water of Qatari river entered the mines. If this call barrier is not removed then the water of Qatari River would not enter the mines due to dam breaking. Not only this, despite all the rules and regulations, adequate safety measures were not taken during the flood. Negligence was maintained year after year. The dam built on the Katari River was also not sufficient.

The officers had fled from the bungalow

In the investigation report, the acting general manager was also held responsible and in view of the circumstances, he had disappeared from the bungalow overnight. After about 8 months, on May 4, 1996, five skeletons with caps on their heads were recovered from Ghajalitand, through which the workers were identified.
Even after 25 years, people may forget the Ghajalitand mine accident, but it is important to remember that once again preparations are underway to hand over coal to private hands. Corruption in the coal business is at its peak and there is no investigation into the safety standards now. This is the era of outsourcing, if lessons are not learned from past mistakes then accidents are waiting to happen.

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