Price of coal
S.A. Mansoor, Gulshan, Dhaka
Way back in 1950-51, I first read the play "The price of coal" in Galsworthy's collection of "Nine Modern Plays" in college days. The theme in the play was the plentiful and cheap availability of coal in Britain at the cost of the cheap lives of poor miners! Bangladesh is embarking on the road to exploiting it coal resources; with the Chinese underground mine as its first step. This setup however is crudely profit oriented (in favour of the Chinese) and the price is ignoring of basic mine safety norms. Already, a number of accidents; some fatal, have happened; kept under wraps by both the Chinese and ourselves.Why must this happen? A venture wrongly begun will invariably lead to disasters in the future. There should be no compromise whatsoever in underground shaft mining operation; which needs very high standards of technical discipline; not a strong point with the Chinese! Possibly open pit mining as against this deep shaft mining is the better and safer option. Open pit mining gives much higher yield of usable quality coal, from the seam; and it is a far safer operation. The cost of rehabilitation of displaced residents in the mining area of the open pit mine in the long term of the mine's life will be a better and more cost effective solution; while fatalities in accidents, mine gas explosion and other violent dangers will be totally eliminated! We should look (carefully) before we leap. This important and long term consideration should be incorporated in our proposed coal policy. One way could be to introduce prohibitive penalty for operating shaft mines in Bangladesh, and it should also have higher royalty compared to open pit mining to cover the risks and dangers involved.
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