Residents near an Eastern Coalfields mine here have complained that cracks developed at their houses because of continuous blasting to extract coal.

The villagers said although they had lodged several complaints with the ECL management, the issue was yet to be addressed.

“Our houses are developing cracks and the water table in the area has gone down because of the mining by the ECL. We have been demanding rehabilitation and compensation but the ECL management is indifferent to our problems,” said Ganesh Kabiraj, a resident of Bil Pahari in East Burdwan district.

The village has around 1,000 families whose homes are located within 50m of Khottadihi open cast mine.

The residents said earlier, the mine was more than 300m away from the human habitation but it came closer after the ECL started expanding the mine.

On Sunday night, fresh crevices appeared at some homes, prompting the villagers to demonstrate at the ECL mining area office the following day.

The villagers said an agreement had been signed between the villagers and the ECL on rehabilitation and compensation but nothing was done yet.

They also complained that the water table in the area had receded as water was being pumped out of the open cast mine. “Every summer, we face severe water crisis because of continuous coal mining. Most of the ponds and wells go dry during the summer,” said Biswaranjan Ghosh, another villager.

The ECL carries out blasting at the mines to break the coal chunks for easy extraction of the fossil fuel.

Sources said the ECL had conducted a survey that found that the village had coal reserves.

“We have found coal reserve beneath the area where the village is located. We will rehabilitate the villagers and excavate the coal soon,” said an ECL official.

ECL officials said cracks in houses near the mines were a common problem earlier, but currently, they use electronic detonators to trigger blasts which generate lesser sound and vibration.

“We now use electronic detonators to trigger a blast which is advanced and generates low sound and vibration. No fresh cracks have developed after that in the past few months. Moreover, we have earmarked land to rehabilitate the people from Bil Pahari and have already shifted around 200 families. The process is on,” said Aloke Kumar Sengupta, additional general manager of ECL in Pandaveswar mining area.

However, the villagers contested the ECL’s claim.

“What the ECL is saying is not right. On Sunday, there was fresh cracks at houses. Also, not a single family has been shifted from Bil Pahari,” said villager Ghosh.