Dumka: Residents living near the coal dumping yard situated at Dumka railway station would launch an indefinite stir against the alleged apathy of the railway authorities to shift the dumping yard to another place owing to health concerns.
Local residents had been on an agitational course to press for their demand ever since the coal dumping yard and rack point became operational in 2021 to facilitate coal transportation to Bengal-based thermal power plants.
This has caused severe pollution in a vast locality due to the coal dust emanating during the loading of the mineral, to which the local public representatives and district administration have seemingly turned a blind eye.
“We have been raising an alarm since long back but nothing has been done so far,” Ravi Shankar Mandal, a local resident who had also knocked the doors of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) against the menace in the past.
In 2023, NGT had imposed fine of Rs 10 crore on the railways for violating pollution norms, but Munda maintained that their basic concerns of clean air and other basic amenities are still to be resolved. He said that they are now working out modalities to begin indefinite stir soon.
According to residents, Dumka railway station is the only station in the country where the coal dumping yard and rack point are operational.
“Nowhere in the country is the coal dumping yard and rack point operational alongside the railway stations. The role of the local public representatives and administrative officials is conspicuous by their silence over the miseries we have been facing for years,” Radhe Shyam Verma, a senior functionary of the local civil society, said, adding that if the situation prevailed any longer, the transportation of coal would be also disrupted.
Nearly 25,000 people residing on either side of the Dumka railway station are affected by the menace of rampant air pollution. This apart, there are dozens of educational institutions situated in the nearby locality.
“It’s a question of life and death for the residents living around Dumka railway station as the air pollution is equally damaging the local flora and fauna and agriculture,” Sanju Sinha, an official of the SKM University administration pointed out, saying that a thick layer of coal dust could be found in each and every household situated even 500 metres from the railway station.
Protesters, who have been organising a weekly dharna outside the Dumka railway station every Sunday to press for their demand, also alleged that the BGR company, which operates coal handling here, did not follow the mandatory norms of sprinkling water and other measures during the dumping of coal and loading on the freight trains.
Dumka deputy commissioner Anjaneyulu Dodde, who had inspected the coal rack point at Dumka station a week ago, could not be contacted for his version over the matter despite trying him.
“The operation of the coal rack point at Dumka station is being monitored by the senior railway officials and the district administration. Sprinkling of water does not suffice to address the emanation of coal dust as the locality is a dry zone,” said a local railway official on anonymity, adding that the matter of shifting of the facility elsewhere fell under the jurisdiction of the railway ministry and railway board.