los angeles times

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Residents, who live above coal fires that steadily consume the ground under their feet, say they are being sacrificed to corporate interests. JHARIA, India — For nearly a century now, fires have burned beneath the ground where Mohammad Riyaz Ansari stands. At night, ghostly blue flares shoot from glowing rocks, like a terrible hell on Earth. The 55-year-old mechanic and his neighbors here, deep in eastern India's coal country, live above underground coal fires that are eating away at their land, India's precious natural resources and, say some, government credibility. As the ground subsides, thousands of houses, including Ansari's, have sagged, collapsed or fallen into chasms over the years, including 250 destroyed over two hours in 1995. In this eerie landscape — the plumes of flame igniting periodically as combustible gas escapes from the subterranean fires — locals speak of neighbors swallowed in their sleep. In 2006, for instance, 14-year-old Mira Kumari vanished while cooking when her house fell 50 feet underground. Her body was never recovered. There may be many others. Activists say dozens of disappearances each year go unreported, especially those involving poor people stealing coal. "Their relatives know if they go to the police, they'll file a case against them," said Ashok Agarwal, head of the Save Jharia Coalfield Committee, a civic group. Those who live in the area accuse India's state coal company of letting the fires burn, hoping residents will leave so it can exploit the estimated $12 billion in high-grade coking coal, used in steel production, that sits below Jharia. Officials for the company, which mines the periphery of the town, say this isn't true, but add that fully exploiting resources is needed to fuel India's growing economy. http://tinyurl.com/cd85tlp By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times July 31, 2012