Fire and poison belching coalfields of Jharia

“The fire was quite far till a few years ago, but now it is inching closer and has almost touched our homes. Almost every household has people suffering some sort of ailment because of the poor quality of air.”
india.mongabay...
Lives of around half a million people in Jharia in the eastern state of Jharkhand are at risk from land subsidence over abandoned coal mines, where fires have been raging for over a century. Noxious fumes from the coalfield fires and opencast mining with little heed to environmental safeguards have turned Jharia into the pollution capital of the country, severely impacting the health of local residents.