A blast in a colliery for coal excavation by a private coal excavator led to the development of cracks in several houses of Kailudih Bhuian Basti in Katras, around 25 km from the district headquarters of Dhanbad late on Sunday night at around 11.45 pm.

The worst affected is a muddy house of a daily wage earner Shankar Bhuian, whose house developed cracks in several places compelling him along with his family members to take rest under the shade of a tree near his house.

Local residents, who carried out a demonstration at the site of the incident this morning demanding compensation for the affected families, held the reckless mining being carried out by private contractors working on behalf of BCCL for the mishap and also charged the BCCL for showing insensitivity to victims and not visiting the site of the incident.

Talking to the media at the site of the incident, Shankar Bhuian said, ”All of us were sleeping at night when we heard a loud noise and came out of the house fearing an earthquake.”

“After searching, we found a large crack in the rear wall of our house, and when we somehow tried to stay inside the house another crack developed in the drawing-room compelling us to vacate the house and take shelter under the shade of a tree,” further said Bhuian.

Another local resident Ramesh Bhuian said, “Though several incidents of subsidence and cracks have developed in the area earlier, the latest incident has jolted us,” he said and added that nobody from the BCCL or the private mine excavator have turned up at the site to take stock of the condition of the affected family although 12 hours have passed.

A local BCCL official, requesting anonymity said, “Though the mining site is far away from the site, we are trying to find the details of the incident.”