PRIVATE ENTERPRISE AND THE GROWTH OF RANIGANJ COAL INDUSTRY: A HISTORICAL OUTLOOK

Abstract

The expansion of the coal industry began in the Raniganj coalfield area during the first half of the 19th century. In 1774, John Sumner and Suetonius Grant Heatly first began to extract coal from the unfertile, hilly, and forest area of Raniganj, which is almost 200 kilometers away from Calcutta. Pitter William Johns, a mining technologist, later tried to find the possibilities of coal production in this area during the first decade of the 19th century. He bought some land from the local zamindars for his experimentation. But Alexander and Co. first commercially began to produce coal from this area in 1820. So, this was the beginning of the viable production of coal in this area. After due of time, a number of European managing agencies, like Gillmor and Humphrey Co., Bengal Coal Co., Birbhum Coal and Co., Upcar and Co., and New Barakar Coal Co., invested a lot of money in the Raniganj coal industry. These were very well-known managing agencies that made a significant turnover from this industry. Some Bengali zamindars, landlords, and western-educated natives also show much interest in the coal industry. Prince Dwarakanath Tagore, Maharaja Manindra Chandra Nandi, Nirmal Chandra Sarkar, Abinash Banerjee, Jadab Chandra Banerjee, and others took on large ventures for the expansion of the coal industry. In the late 19th century, coal production also began to increase through the private enterprises of many joint-stock companies.