Paradip, June 22: Despite the pouring rains, the Paradip Port Trust authorities are having a tough time in extinguishing a fire that had engulfed the huge mountain of thermal grade coal kept inside a big yard. Over 2,39,000 tonnes of thermal grade coal was dumped inside the yard in the port area, mostly for despatch to South India by sea for thermal plants operating there.

The mounds of coal had caught fire during the summer and had been smouldering since then, port trust authorities said.

"We hoped it would be extinguished on its own with the arrival of the monsoon, but it has not happened," the sources said adding smoke was found coming out from the bottom of the mounds.
To combat the problem, the authorities had dug a pond in the yard and filled it with water. Six payloaders have been deployed to dump the coal into the water and again fetch it out of the water to be kept separately.

It's working though it had turned into a continuous exercise, they said.

A fire tender has also been drenching the mounds with water continuously.
Port trust's acting chairman Subrat Tripathy and other officials visited the site and supervised the operations.

Bureau Report