November 16, 2012 6:33 pm

Burning issues

India is suffering an unprecedented energy crisis. So why are fires being left to rage in Jharia, home to its richest coalfields?

Children play in the grounds where families from various villages have been rehabilitated, in Belgharia township outside of Dhanbad in Jharkhand, India
Sagar Kumar Ghuijan, a daily wage labourer and coal loader, poses for a portrait in Goladi coal depot in Jharia, Jharkhand
Ramchander Ghuijan, a daily wage labourer and coal loader
Ramdhani Ghuijan, a daily wage labourer and coal loader
Laccho Devi, a daily wage labourer and a resident of Lantenganj
Mithun, a daily wage labourer and coal loader
Daily wage labourers prepare to load coal in Goladi coal depot in Jharia
An overview of Belgharia township in Jharkhand
An open cast mine at Ghanudih, in Jharia
Labourers fill up a lorry with coal in Goladi coal depot in Jharia
Train carriages laden with coal sit at a coal mine depot near Ghanudih in Jharia
A young girl washes her face next to abandoned homes in Lantenganj, Jharia
A scavenger stands on the edge of the hill looking over the Kujama Fire Project, an open cast mine in Jharia
Fire rages from the ground in the village of Lantenganj, Jharia
“Lantenganj is engulfed in fire,” says Laccho Devi, a coal loader. “It’s just red, red, red, red”
Local villagers sit next to coking coal in Bokapahari village in Jharia
A woman walks past abandoned homes as smoke rises from the ground in Bokapahari village in Jharia
Daily wage labourers fill up a lorry with coal in Goladi coal depot in Jharia
Young scavengers Jugnu, 8, and his sister Prerna, 6, work together to coke the coal in Bokapahari village

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