Just imagine you are watching a TV show and suddenly you are buried 40-50 feet deep in the ground or just think you are sleeping in the night in your house and suddenly you found yourself struggling for life deeply buried underground. This is happening in “Jharia” a town, near Dhanbad in Jharkhand, India. A 14-year-old girl, Mira, had fallen into the pit caused by land subsidence and the house, where she lived with her parents, was also buried 50 feet deep. A contractor and his wife were buried almost in the same manner. This is the sequel of incidences of this kind in the coal township of Jharia. The entire township is literally burning and the smoke is coming out of the abandoned mines on the highway. Cracks and fissure are clearly visible and blue flames are coming out of the ground. It appears like a site of errupting volcano. Rains enhance the potential danger of explosions, collapse of houses and other structures. Lives of over 400,000 people staying in 653 colonies of Jharia are in danger and warnings to the people have been issued to vacate the town.

Though government is ready to provide alternative sites to the people, but people have demanded employment if they are shifted to new settlement. Government has shown its inability to provide employment. Action plan for shifting may cost around Rs 6,000 crore to execute it. Recently the government has decided to relocate the entire township of Jharia because of the uncontrollable spread of underground fires that have been burning in the coal belt. Fire began in 1894 and the mining activities in these coalfields intensified in 1925. The history of coal-mine fire in Jharia coalfield is dated back to 1916 when the first fire was detected. Now the fires have reached "alarming proportions'' in Jharia coalfield and immediate shifting of people living in Jharia town looks the only solution to avert any possible disaster.

It isconsidered to be the one of world's major evacuation drives and the cost of shifting people is estimated be about Rs 20,000 crore. However, Government may harness the coal worth Rs 60,000 crore that is lying unutilised beneath the Jharia township. The Jharia coalfield is a storehouse of prime coke coal, comprising 23 large underground and nine large open cast mines. Coal is not being mined for the fear of displacement. There are some 14,075 families in the affected areas that are not BCCL employees and needs to be shifted from the area. The central government is believed to approve a Rs 4,400 crore Jharia action plan for shifting the persons living in the subsidence prone dangerous fire zone of Jharia coalfield. BCCL, the coalfield company, has to bear the cost of rehabilitating the BCCL employees and their family living in the areas, rehabilitation of people other than BCCL becomes the duty of the central and state government