Railway
Which coalfield, in the Dhanbad district, is regarded as the largest and most important coalfield of India?
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option B — Jharia Coalfield
Detailed Solution
The Jharia coalfield, in the Dhanbad district of Jharkhand, in the Damodar valley, is one of the largest and richest coalfields of India. It is especially important because it is the main source of prime coking coal in the country.
Key facts about Jharia:
It covers about 450 square kilometres.
It contains the largest reserves of prime coking coal in India. Coking coal, when heated without air, forms coke, which is used in blast furnaces for making steel.
Mining here began in the 1890s, and the field supplied coal to the steel plants of eastern India, such as Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Durgapur.
Most mines are run by Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), a subsidiary of Coal India, with headquarters in Dhanbad. Tata Steel also has mines here.
The Jharia fires:
- Jharia is famous for its underground coal fires, some of which have been burning since about 1916.
- These fires were caused mainly by unscientific mining, poor sealing of old mines and spontaneous combustion of coal exposed to air.
- They have caused land subsidence (sinking of the ground), toxic gas emissions, air pollution and serious health problems.
- The government has prepared a Jharia Master Plan to relocate tens of thousands of families from fire-affected and unstable areas, but progress has been slow.
Other coalfields of the Damodar valley:
- Raniganj (West Bengal): the oldest coalfield of India, where commercial coal mining began in 1774 under the East India Company.
- Bokaro, Karanpura, Giridih and Ramgarh (Jharkhand).
Dhanbad:
Dhanbad is called the "Coal Capital of India". The Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), established in 1926, is located here.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Raniganj is the oldest coalfield of India, in West Bengal.
- ✗Bokaro is an important coalfield and steel city, but smaller than Jharia.
- ✗Singrauli (Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh) is a large source of thermal coal for power plants, but Jharia is the leading coking coal field.
Quick tip
Remember: Jharia (Dhanbad, Jharkhand) = largest coking coal field, famous for underground fires; Raniganj = oldest coalfield (1774).
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Minerals & Energy Resources — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Minerals & Energy Resources, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers India's mineral resources (iron ore, manganese, bauxite, copper, mica and others) and energy resources (coal, petroleum, natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy), with their main producing regions, mines, oil fields and power plants. Questions often ask where a mineral is found, which state is the leading producer, or where an important power plant or oil field is located. For example, Jharia is known for coal, Digboi in Assam is the oldest oil field in India, and Tarapur in Maharashtra is the site of India's first nuclear power plant. Practise the minerals and energy resources questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.