The largest rehabilitation program in Asia is currently underway in the coal district of Jharia, India. Whilst government and private contractors claim to offer a new life for residents so that they can continue to mine their land, they are repeatedly failing on their promises. The infamous 'fires of Jharia' have been burning since 1916. According to records Seth Khora Ramji Chawda, widely seen as the pioneer of Indian coal mining operated extensively in the area, extracting from mines several hundred feet underground. Many of these deep shafts collapsed and caught fire but despite extensive efforts by the Indian authorities they were never extinguished.
—Writer