Coal town on Monday paid rich tributes to the 372 miners who died during the worst ever mine tragedy at Chasnala in Dhanbad way back on December 27, 1975.
The occasion was the 46th anniversary of Chasnala mines tragedy organised by trade unions in association with Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) management at Martyr Memorial of Chasnala Colliery of SAIL.
Jharia MLA, Purnima Singh; Dhanbad MLA, Raj Sinha; Executive Director of SAIL BK Tiwari, senior trade union leaders and workers were present on the occasion.
Speaking during the occasion, Purnima Singh said, “Every year we congregate here to pay tributes to the innocent miners who laid down their lives during the course of their duty.”
Sinha added, “The incident serves as a grim reminder to the mining companies to pay priority to safety while carrying out production. Though production is quite important for meeting the energy demand of the country, safety of miners is more essential."
Jharia MLA Purnima Niraj Singh at the event Shabbir Hussain
Tiwari said, “We have plans to further renovate and beautify the Martyrs' Memorial and will appeal to local residents to help the management to maintain it.”
When asked about the claim of some of the family members of deceased not getting jobs, he said “Providing jobs is a tricky issue but we have plans to launch the mines' expansion in Chasnala after which we will try to accommodate all genuine claimants".
The mine was inundated due to caving of a roof at around 1.30 pm in the combined seam Number One and Two of colliery following which water entered the mine. The miners were trapped in a mountain of debris. Though rescue efforts were launched immediately after the incident, as water entered into the mine at the rate of 3200 meter cube per minute the miners died due to rising water level in the mine.
