Chanch/ Victoria Area

Before nationalisation in 1972, the mines were owned and operated by private companies such as Bengal Coal Co. Ltd., Katras Jharia Coal Co. Ltd., New Birbhum Coal Co., Oriental Coal Co. Ltd., Brahmadev Sinha & Co., East Chaptoria Coal Co., East Ramnagar Colliery, Md. Yusuf and others. After nationalisation BCCL reorganised the mines as follows:[1]

In Jharkhand

• Basantimata, East Palasha, Jamdohi Basantimata, Palasia and Shri Raghunathji collieries were reorganised as Basantimata colliery. It was an underground mine.
• Dahibari and Ramkrishna collieries were reorganised as Dahibari-Basantimata colliery. It was an open cast mine.
• Junkundar open cast mine was reorganised as New Laikdih open cast project.
• Laikdih Deep colliery remained as Laikdih Deep colliery. It was an underground mine.
• Chanch colliery remained as Chanch colliery. It was an underground mine.

In West Bengal

• East Ramnagar, Chaptoria, Borira and Damagoria collieries were reorganised as Damagoria colliery. While East Ramnagar was an underground mine, the other three were open cast mines.
• Beguina, an underground mine, remained as Begunia colliery.
• Victoria West, un underground mine, remained Victoria West colliery.
• Victoria, an underground mine, remained as Victoria colliery.

The Chanch/ Victoria Area has a mineable reserve of 333.40 million tonnes.

• An overview of the proposed mining activity plan in Cluster XVI, a group of 5 mines (2 operating and 3 closed) in the Chanch/ Victoria Area, as of 2013, is as follows:[2]

1.Dahibari Basantimata colliery, with an open cast mine, has a normative production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per year and a peak production capacity of 1.69 million tonnes per year. It had an expected life of 16 years.

2.Basantimata colliery, with an underground mine, has a normative production capacity of 0.21 million tonnes per year and a peak production capacity of 0.273 million tonnes per year. It had an expected life of 24 years.

3. New Laikdih open cast project is closed.

4.Laikdih Deep underground mine is closed.

5.Chanch underground mine is closed.

There was a proposal for Dahibari washery, with a capacity of 1.6 million tonnes per year, within New Laikdih lease hold area.

• An overview of the proposed mining activity plan in Cluster XVII in the Chanch/ Victoria Area, as of 2013, is as follows:[3]

1.Begunia colliery is closed for production since 2013.

2.Victoria West colliery is closed for production since 1996 because of mine fire.

3.Victoria colliery is closed for production since 1989 because of mine fire and subsequently inundated.

4. Damagoria colliery is closed since 2010.

5. Proposed Kalyaneswari open cast project, located within the lease hold area of Victoria and Damagoria collieries, with a normative production of 4.0 million tonnes per year, peak production of 5.20 million tonnes per year, and an expected life of 33 years.

There was a proposal for Kalyaneswari washery with an annual capacity of 3.65 million tonnes per year.

In the following mines production has been discontinued or mines have been abandoned because of mine fire: Victoria colliery (abandoned in 1989), Laikdih Deep colliery (Laikdih seam discontinued in 1986) and Victoria West colliery (Laikdih seam discontinued in 2001).[1]

As a result of old workings in the pre-nationalisation period there has been subsidence in certain areas and are covered under Jharia Action Plan: Barakar township, near Heslop pit in Victoria colliery, a part of Baltoria village in the vicinity of Victoria West colliery and a portion of Doomurkonda village and some quarters of Laikdih colliery in the vicinity of Laikdih Deep colliery. [1]

Asansol–Gaya section
km   Gaya–Mughalsarai section of Grand Chord, Howrah–Gaya–Delhi line and Howrah–Allahabad–Mumbai line 0 Gaya Junction Patna–Gaya line Falgu River 3 Saheed Iswar Choudhery (halt) 5 Manpur Gaya–Kiul line 12 Bandhua 19 Tankuppa 25 Bansinala 32 Paharpur 34 Gurpa 39 Dilwa Jharkhand Bihar border 46 Gujhandi 56 Koderma to Hazaribagh to Giridih 64 Hirodih 72 Samatanr 77 Jadudih 81 Parsabd Barakar River 92 Chaube 103 Hazaribagh Road 113 Chichaki 121 Chaudhuribandh 130 Parasnath Parasnath Hill ( 1350 m 1476 yd ) NH 19 (Grand Trunk Road) 138 Nimiaghat 148 Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Gomoh to Bokaro & Barkakana Tatanagar-Barkakana section 72 Barkakana to Son Nagar to Hazaribagh (under construction) Damodar River 69 Argada 63 Ranchi Road NH 33 55 Karmahat 51 Chainpur 46 Jogeshwar Bokaro River 38 Danea Tenughat Thermal Power Station 27 Dumari Indian Explosives Limited 20 Gomia Gomia Airport Konar River 15 Bokaro (Thermal) Bokaro Thermal Power Station B (Damodar Valley Corporation) 9 Jarangdih 6 Bermo 3 Amlo (halt) Kargali colliery and washery 0 Phusro 5 Bhandaridah Netaji S.C.Bose Gomoh–Hatia line Bokaro airport Bokaro Steel Plant (Steel Authority of India Limited) 0 Bokaro Steel City Adra-Bokaro Steel City branch line 5 Tupkadih Damodar River 12 Rajabera Chandrapura TPS (Damodar Valley Corporation) 16 12 Chandrapura Dugda Adra–Gomoh branch line 23 Telo Jamunia River 33 Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Gomoh 157 Matari 162 Nichitpur to Katrasgarh ( Jharia Coalfield rail network ) 168 Tetulmari 173 Bhuli (halt) to Jharia ( Jharia Coalfield rail network ) 177 Dhanbad Junction 182 Dokra (halt) to Katrasgarh ( Jharia Coalfield rail network ) 187 Pradhankhunta to Pathardih ( Jharia Coalfield rail network ) 193 Chota Ambana 202 Kalubathan 206 Thapar Nagar 212 Mugma Grand Trunk Road 216 Kumardhubi Barakar River Jharkhand West Bengal border 219 Barakar 222 Kulti to Mughalsarai Junction via Howrah–Delhi main line 227 Sitarampur 231 Barachak Asansol–Tatanagar–Kharagpur line 236 Asansol Junction Bardhaman–Asansol section km
Sources: Google maps Indian Railway Time Table (Indiarailinfo) Hatia-Bardhaman Passenger 53062 Gomoh-Barkakana Passenger 461EC

The Asansol–Gaya section, which is a part of Howrah-Gaya-Delhi line and Howrah-Allahabad-Mumbai line passes through the Chanch/ Victoria Area.[4]

The old Grand Trunk Road passes through the Chanch/ Victoria Area. NH 19 (old numbering NH 2), running from Agra to Kolkata, leaves GT Road at near Brindabanpur and passes mostly outside the crowded towns and mining areas and rejoins GT Road after Asansol.[5]

Mugma Area and Salanpur Area of ECL functioning in the same area.