ROURKELA: At least four coal heaps at the Siarmal open cast project (SOCP) in Sundargarh’s Hemgir block continue to burn for the past one week, keeping authorities of the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) on their toes.
MCL sources said fire was first noticed at four of the 15 huge coal heaps of the SOCP around a week ago. Since then, water is being continuously sprayed on the affected sites along with dozing of coal heaps to fully douse the fire and prevent further spread.
An MCL spokesperson said after extraction, fragmented coals are loosely deposited to form heaps before transportation. The situation has aggravated due to rise in the atmospheric temperature for a prolonged period resulting in spontaneous heating of the coal and breakout of fire with exposure to oxygen.
He said due to limited supply of rakes by the South Eastern Railway (SER), the desired dispatch of coal from the SOCP could not be achieved in 2025-2026 leading to a build-up of 54 lakh tonne stock.
Around 18 lakh tonne of coal has already been dispatched to reduce the present stock to about 36 lakh tonne. As a further precautionary measure to lower the stock, the present extraction from the mine has also been reduced.
He said a dedicated 28 kilo litre (KL) water tanker has been deployed at the site for continuous sprinkling of water on the heaps. A fire tender is also being used to suppress the flames and smoke with high-pressure water spray.
A series of sprinklers with 40-metre throw have been installed as a necessary precaution. Besides, continuous dozing of coal is underway to compact the heaps to cut oxygen supply and control the fire. He asserted that the fire is likely to be doused completely in a day or two.
SOCP sources said senior MCL officials are continuously monitoring the extinguishing operation. General manager of Mahalaxmi Area Satyajit Ojha inspected the site on Wednesday.
Around 150 km from Rourkela, the SOCP has a rated production capacity of 22 million tonne per annum (MTPA).
