A few days back I had the opportunity to visit an underground coal mine thanks to my friend Abhishek. He is an Engineer in Singareni Collieries in Ramagundam and through proper permissions he arranged a visit for us(two more friends bhanu and swat) on a Sunday.
When we reached the site abhishek led us to a work room where we were provided with helmets,shoes and overcoats.A battery operated fully charged headlamp was also provided to each one of us.From here we boarded a small train that stood on an inclined pathway which descended into the mine.As the train started its rickety descent into the mine all I could think of was the game 'Half Life' which I used to play in my childhood.The walls shone as the light of our headlamps fell on them.Here and there there were huge gaps in the wall.I asked abhishek what these gaps were and he explained that those were the gaps left after all the extraction of coal from there was over.
We soon reached a level from where we left this train and took another one.It went still deeper into the mine and somewhere around 250 meters from the land surface level we stopped.From here,abhishek informed us,we needed to walk in thick sludge to reach the actual boring machine.We walked along the brightly lit bore of the mine.Along the side of the mine there was a conveyor to remove the coal from the boring machine.Also there was a huge pipeline running along the wall for creating a draft.The walls were wet in places with small streams of water running down along them.This water was mixing with the mud in the ground to create a very slippery and dangerous ground to walk on.We trudged along carefully,our headlights shining their lights ahead.There were overhead bulbs in some places and it some places they weren't. As we continued our progress into the mine we came across a compressor, its loud noise filling the whole mine with a doleful sound.We moved along and ventured deeper into the mine.Since it was a Sunday no usual work was going on and we met only a handful of people while going in.At one point we were the only ones in a long section and we stopped. Abhishek suggested we all turn off our headlights just to see how it will be.We did so.Everything was pitch black.Nothing could be seen.Here I asked what happens if a miner's headlight's battery charge empties before he gets out? He said all he could do is wait for someone to come or maybe get over to a nearest phone and make a call to the surface.
We resumed our walk after this brief stop.We reached the end where we saw the boring machine.It reminded me of the movie 'Total recall' We looked around here fro sometime.There were two technicians working on it. Abhishek engaged in some conversation with them regarding a problem they were having.This gave us an excuse to see the machine in action.After spending some time here we started to go back.We had a bus to catch in the night so we were in a bit of a hurry to go back.Along we went through the passages and again passed that sombre compressor and reached the train station.All that walking took us 4 hours.We took the train and rode to the top where fresh air greeted us.A miners job is one of the toughest and we all could personally see why.
When we reached the site abhishek led us to a work room where we were provided with helmets,shoes and overcoats.A battery operated fully charged headlamp was also provided to each one of us.From here we boarded a small train that stood on an inclined pathway which descended into the mine.As the train started its rickety descent into the mine all I could think of was the game 'Half Life' which I used to play in my childhood.The walls shone as the light of our headlamps fell on them.Here and there there were huge gaps in the wall.I asked abhishek what these gaps were and he explained that those were the gaps left after all the extraction of coal from there was over.
We soon reached a level from where we left this train and took another one.It went still deeper into the mine and somewhere around 250 meters from the land surface level we stopped.From here,abhishek informed us,we needed to walk in thick sludge to reach the actual boring machine.We walked along the brightly lit bore of the mine.Along the side of the mine there was a conveyor to remove the coal from the boring machine.Also there was a huge pipeline running along the wall for creating a draft.The walls were wet in places with small streams of water running down along them.This water was mixing with the mud in the ground to create a very slippery and dangerous ground to walk on.We trudged along carefully,our headlights shining their lights ahead.There were overhead bulbs in some places and it some places they weren't. As we continued our progress into the mine we came across a compressor, its loud noise filling the whole mine with a doleful sound.We moved along and ventured deeper into the mine.Since it was a Sunday no usual work was going on and we met only a handful of people while going in.At one point we were the only ones in a long section and we stopped. Abhishek suggested we all turn off our headlights just to see how it will be.We did so.Everything was pitch black.Nothing could be seen.Here I asked what happens if a miner's headlight's battery charge empties before he gets out? He said all he could do is wait for someone to come or maybe get over to a nearest phone and make a call to the surface.
We resumed our walk after this brief stop.We reached the end where we saw the boring machine.It reminded me of the movie 'Total recall' We looked around here fro sometime.There were two technicians working on it. Abhishek engaged in some conversation with them regarding a problem they were having.This gave us an excuse to see the machine in action.After spending some time here we started to go back.We had a bus to catch in the night so we were in a bit of a hurry to go back.Along we went through the passages and again passed that sombre compressor and reached the train station.All that walking took us 4 hours.We took the train and rode to the top where fresh air greeted us.A miners job is one of the toughest and we all could personally see why.
Getting in to the mine and coming out of it means that he got a new life every day. Really it's tough job. At the age of 12 i visited a underground mine in Goleti, Adilabad. i took 2 days rest after visiting the mine. as my maternal uncles worked as mining sardar and lamp cabin incharge i got that opportunity. Thanks Mr.Razzaq for giving me an opportunity to recollect those days once again.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this information. I really like your blog post very much. You have really shared a informative and interesting blog post . ECP
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