As of 2011, Jharia was the fifteenth-largest town in the state of Jharkhand.[4] Subsequently, Jharia plays a very important role in the economy and development of the metropolitan area around Dhanbad City.
Governance
Current Member of Parliament for Jharia is Shri Dhullu Mahato from BJP who represents Dhanbad district in 2024 Lok Sabha. The Current Member of Legislative Assembly is Purnima Niraj Singh from congress.
Geography
5km 3miles
Damodar River
BBMK University
F
CIMFR – CSiR
F
IIT (ISM) Dhanbad
F
BCCL Sijua Area
BCCL Kusunda Area
BCCL Bastacola Area
Dhanbad
MC
Belgaria
R
Jharia Khas
N
Jharia
N
Saraidhela
N
Wasseypur
N
Tetulmari
N
Jogta
N
Godhar
N
Dhaunsar
N
Chhatatanr
N
Chandaur
N
Bhuli
N
Basaria
N
Bhagatdih
N
Loyabad
N
Sijua
N
Cities, towns and locations in the central portion of Dhanbad Sadar subdivision in Dhanbad district MC: Municipal Corporation, CT: Census Town, N: Neighbourhood, R: Rural/ Urban centre Owing to space constraints in the small map, the actual locations in a larger map may vary slightly
As of 2001[update] India census,[16] Jharia had a population of 81,979. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Jharia has an average literacy rate of 68%, lower than the national average of 74.5%: male literacy is 74%, and female literacy is 60%. In Jharia, 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Relocation
According to the state government this is the worst site of India, the town of Jharia is to be shifted due to the uncontrollable coal mine fires (see below), which have found to be undousable, leading to loss of property and lives. Coal worth Rs. 60,000 crore (US$12 billion) is lying unmined, and the state government feels the shifting will help in exploiting this resource.[17] The Jharia Rehabilitation and Development Authority is supposed to relocate much of the population to Belgaria and other towns nearby.[2] However, as of 2017, the organization was facing considerable challenges in acquiring land and doing construction,[2] and a 2016 book reporting on the relocation effort, found that the relocation was not accounting for Just Transition of jobs, or adequate high quality housing.[3]
The coal field lies in the Damodar River Valley, and covers about 110 square miles (280 square km), and produces bituminous coal suitable for coke. Most of India's coal comes from Jharia. Jharia coal mines are India's most important storehouse[18] of prime coke coal used in blast furnaces, it consists of 23 large underground and nine large open cast mines.[17]
The mining activities in these coalfields started in 1894 and had really intensified in 1925. The first Indians to arrive and break monopoly of British in Coal mining were Gujarati people from Kutch.
After the mines were nationalized in 1971, due to easy availability of coal, many steel plants were set up in close proximity to Jharia.
Coal field fire
Jharia is famous for a coal field fire that has burned underground for a century. The first fire was detected in 1916.[17] According to records, it was the Khas Jharia mines of Seth Khora Ramji, who was a pioneer of Indian coalmines, whose mines were one of the firsts to collapse in underground fire in 1930. Two of his collieries, Khas Jharia and Golden Jharia, which worked on maximum 260-foot-deep shafts,[19] collapsed due to now infamous underground fires, in which their house and bungalow also collapsed on 8 November 1930, causing a six meter subsidence and widespread destruction.[20][21][19][22][23][24] The fire never stopped despite sincere efforts by mines department and railway authorities and in 1933 flaming crevasses lead to exodus of many residents.[19] The 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake led to further spread of fire and by 1938 the authorities had declared that there is raging fire beneath the town with 42 collieries out of 133 on fire.[25]
In 1972, more than 70 mine fires were reported in this region. As of 2007, more than 400,000 people who reside in Jharia are living on land in danger of subsidence due to the fires, and according to Satya Pratap Singh, "Jharia township is on the brink of an ecological and human disaster".[26] The government has been criticized for a perceived lackadaisical attitude[27] towards the safety of the people of Jharia.[28] Heavy fumes emitted by the fires[29] lead to severe health problems such as breathing disorders and skin diseases among the local population.[30]
There used to be a railway station in Jharia locality which is no more due to underground fire hazard it was closed on 2004 however remains are still there.
^"Dhanbad Dsitrict Map". Physical Map of Dhanbad. Jharkhand Government. Archived from the original on 5 October 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
^"Dhanbad Municipal Corporation". प्रादेशिक निर्वाचन क्षेत्रों की सूची (in Hindi). Jharkhand Government. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
^Diary of Golden Days at Jharia – A Memoir & History of Gurjar Kashtriya Samaj of Kutch in Coalfields of Jharia – written by Natwarlal Devram Jethwa:1998 Page:12
^Nanji Bapa ni Nondh-pothi published in Gujarati in year 1999 from Vadodara. It is a diary of Railway Contracts done by KGK community noted by Nanji Govindji Tank of Jamshedpur, compiled by Dharsibhai Jethalal Tank, Tatanagar. (Aank Sidhhi awarded to book by Kutch Shakti at Mumbai in 2000): Life Sketch of Seth Khora Ramji Chawra Page :76
^[1]The Jharia underground fire still raging first came to notice in November, 1930 with subsidance at Seth Khora Ramji's Khas Jharia Colliery(Page 159). He was told that Seth Khora Ramji, whose mines lay underneath Jharia, had chosen to live in his house, which also collapsed in subsidance(Page 160). "The politics of labour under late colonialism: workers, unions, and the state in Chota Nagpur, 1928–1939 by Dilip Simeon."
