Mohan Kumar Bhuiyan

In a rapidly changing world, there are some communities that struggling to keep their identities intact in trying to keep up. Mohan Kumar Bhuiyan belongs to one such adivasi community who live dangerously perched between the open minefields of Tata, on one side and Central Coalfields, on the other. He and his neighbors have already been given eviction notices and will be thrown out of their homes any day. He believes that as a community his people are losing their identities by being deprived of their land. That their homes have turned into mines has left people lost and disillusioned.…

Every single video that Community Correspondent Mohan Bhuiyan has made in the last year has documented various ways in which his village is battling for survival. Mohan’s village is nestled between the minefields of Tata and Central Coalfields Ltd, India. These companies have mined recklessly leading to multiple health hazards for the people of Fakodih village and at least ten other villages. Depletion of water resources, dumping of mining debris, large scale deforestation and degradation of the land and soil, toxic fumes and the threat of eviction are crises that Mohan and his people live with everyday.  Today Mohan brings us yet another video showing how his village is literally burning up from within.

About the video: Not 500 meters from Mohan’s house, a coal fire rages below the surface of the earth engulfing kilometers of precious coal. This fire started almost three years ago, and very little is being done to control it. In fact, it seems like more efforts are being made to hide the fire! The villagers are suffering from tuberculosis and respiratory problems. They are fully aware of the fact that this fire, if not controlled, will ultimately lead to the subsidence of the meager infrastructure on the surface.

It is a well known fact that coal fires are extremely hazardous for health and safety. Coal fires are fast becoming a global threat as they have significant economic, social & economic impacts. They release fly ash and smoke laden with greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals like carbon-monoxide (CO), carbon-dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrous oxides (NOx) amongst others. They also lead to rising surface temperatures and contamination of soil and groundwater.

While the villagers are holding on to their houses and land tenaciously in the hope for some compensation, the fight seems  to be getting increasingly futile.