What should a son do whose father -a miner par excellence, 32 years ago, in a good Samaritan life-threatening act saved the lives of 65 miners beyond the call of duty, yet faced prejudice of colleagues and official apathy? He should fight back and not rest in the half-delivery of a much-deserved laurel to his late father. Amritsar-based Dr Sarpreet Singh is doing just that. What should a son do whose father’s achievement has been ignored by the Punjab Government, Panthic bodies and the local Amritsar authorities? He should fight back. Dr Sarpreet Singh is doing just that and vows to continue till his soul is satisfied and his family is given due acknowledgement, even though posthumously. WSN presents Dr Sarpreet Singh’s first-person account of the remarkable bravery of his father-a miner who, in the spur of the moment, made an innovative Capsule, which saved the lives of 65 miners suddenly trapped in a mine at Raniganj in November 1989.

MY FATHER JASWANT SINGH GILL, grew up in Amritsar in the company of stalwart relatives, who were educated, posted at reputable offices, yet humble, disciplined and sober. As we will soon see, he too possessed the qualities of a gentleman.

He studied at the Khalsa School and then did his Bachelors in Science from the historic Khalsa College, graduating in 1959.

A chance meeting with a friend inspired him to appear for the entrance exam for the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. He was selected and went on to complete his B.Tech in Mining Engineering and passed out in 1965.

Born on 22 November 1939 at Sathiala in Amritsar district my father Jaswant Singh Gill was the fourth child among the five children of my grandfather Daswandha Singh Gill and grandmother Sardarni Preetam Kaur Gill.

My grandfather was a senior clerk in the postal department at Amritsar. Though a man of modest means he ensured that his five children were well educated.

The crowning glory of his mining career came in November 1989 when he saved 65 coal miners from the flooded and collapsing Mahabir Coalmine of Raniganj Area in West Bengal in Eastern Coalfields Ltd. a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd. 

My uncle Kulwant Singh Gill worked in a bank after graduation and retired as a Bank Manager. He settled at Sirhind. My elder aunt Narinder Kaur was a teacher and retired as the headmistress of a government school. My younger aunt Dr Raminder Kaur was a pathologist and was head of the department at Rajindra Medical College, Patiala and then at GMC Amritsar where she was diagnosed with cancer and passed away while still in service.

My uncle Dr Harwant Singh Gill is D. Ortho and retired as SMO from the PCMS.

Jaswant Singh Gill was selected to join the coal firm of Karam Chand Thapar and Sons where he proved his acumen as an able administrator and a capable officer from the very onset of his career.

In the early seventies, when coal mining was nationalized in India, he chose to join Coal India Ltd.

My father Jaswant Singh Gill did a historic rescue mission and emerged as a Hero and saviour of 65 precious lives. 

Already well known for his skills he was posted in the most difficult areas, where Miner trade unions were strong and often at loggerheads with the management. He showed his acumen by handling all situations in the finest manner and never compromise on the company’s ideals or the interests of miners. 

Physically a strong man he was always a part of the rescue teams and was adjudged Best Zonal Captain on numerous occasions and Best All India Captain once.

The crowning glory of his career came in November 1989 when he saved 65 coal miners from the flooded and collapsing Mahabir Coalmine of Raniganj Area in West Bengal in Eastern Coalfields Ltd. a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd. 

My father Jaswant Singh Gill did a historic rescue mission and emerged as a Hero and saviour of 65 precious lives. 

In a time blast in the coal mine on 13 November 1989, at a depth of 330 feet from the surface, millions of litres of water from an upper seam gushed into the working seam flooding it. Many workers managed to evacuate the mine in the two lifts but 71 miners were trapped as the lift shafts were filled up to 40 feet and there was no way out for them. 

My father who was going to his office learnt about the accident on the way and immediately decided to reach the accident site voluntarily as it was not his area.

My father who was going to his office learnt about the accident on the way and immediately decided to reach the accident site voluntarily as it was not his area. On reaching the mine he immediately realized the gravity of the situation and the need for a speedy rescue. 

By then other senior officers from the headquarters of the company had started arriving and plans to save the trapped miners was discussed. 

My father Jaswant Singh Gill proposed a novel method of first locating the miners, drilling a new borehole of 22 inches diameter, fabricating a steel capsule that could carry one person at a time and use this method to rescue the miners. Although the Chairman of the company was sceptical of his idea, he made my father the head of one of the four units that were engaged in various ways to try and rescue the trapped workers.

My father immediately called for the survey maps of the mine and taking an educated guess after studying the maps thoroughly he got a 22-inch bore drilled at the most likely high point where the miners may have taken shelter. His study was perfect as the borehole connected at the exact point where the trapped miners had assembled. It was now learnt that of the 71 miners, 6 had drowned and 65 were trapped with the water level rising in spite of the maximum number of submersible pumps working to pump out the water. Oxygen was depleting and the roof of the mine was slowly collapsing and all the trapped miners had given up any hope of coming out alive. 

My father immediately got drilling rigs hired and started the process of making the new borehole at the earliest. The biggest challenge was that the drilling bits had a maximum diameter of 8 inches. This was overcome by welding new bits on the older bits then welding a plate on them and again welding new bits on the plate to make the bore 22 inches in diameter. 

At the same time, my father drew plans for the Capsule and sent them to a fabrication factory nearby. Hectic work continued and by the midnight of 15th November, the Capsule was in position on a ten-tonne winch and tripod with a pulley tied with a brand new steel rope to be lowered into the borehole. 

Two rescue personnel who were briefed about the situation and were to go down in the Capsule were then called for but both had run away. It was then that my father went up to the Chairman of Coal India Ltd who was present at the site and offered to go down himself. This was strongly opposed as the Chairman was not willing to risk the life of such a senior officer. Finally, he relented and said, ‘ The man who rescues these miners, his name will be written in golden letters in the history of mining.’

‘ The man who rescues these miners, his name will be written in golden letters in the history of mining.’

Chairman, Coal India Limited

At 2:30 am, on the night of 16 November 1989, my father entered the Capsule to go down into a certain death trap. Almost a hundred thousand people who had by now gathered at the site shouted slogans to encourage him. 

Jaswant Singh Gill was hailed as the “Hero of Raniganj”

As the Capsule began its descent, the torque in the new steel rope started relieving and made the Capsule spin at a high speed in a clockwise motion and then in an anticlockwise motion. It was a nerve-wracking endeavour, yet my father conquered his fear with sheer determination and concentration. In about 15 minutes he reached the pit bottom as a manual winch was being used to lower the Capsule. 

The bold man -Jaswant Singh Gill, who played with his life to rescue others was greeted by thunderous applause and garlands all over his face. The rescue was covered by local and national channels and media and he became a week-deserved hero overnight.

As soon as he opened the front hatch of the Capsule, he saw 65 scared faces in front of him with the fear of impending death writ large on their faces. He caught hold of the nearest worker, put him into the Capsule and signalled with a hammer he was carrying for the Capsule to be hoisted up.

He then turned to the remaining miners and asked if any of them was injured or sick. The first 9 tokens were given to those who had injuries and those who had a fever. He then asked for the hierarchy of the workers and gave out tokens from the junior most to the senior-most workers and told them that he would vacate the mine last after sending all of them out one by one. 

After 7-8 rounds, when it was apparent that the Capsule was functioning smoothly, the manual winch was replaced with a mechanical one and now the process became faster. At 8:30 am on 16 November, my father came back to the surface after sending out all the 65 miners to safety. 

The Chairman immediately announced an out of turn promotion and a cash reward of Rupees One hundred thousand. Ironically, they never materialized.

The bold man -Jaswant Singh Gill, who played with his life to rescue others was greeted by thunderous applause and garlands all over his face. The rescue was covered by local and national channels and media and he became a week-deserved hero overnight.

The Chairman immediately announced an out of turn promotion and a cash reward of Rupees One hundred thousand. Ironically, they never materialized.

Adding insult to injury, as a ‘reward’ the inhuman company heads made him the General Manager of a defunct department which was earlier headed for decades by a much junior officer of the rank of Superintendent. Senior officers even attempted to take the credit for the rescue but the print media of West Bengal thwarted their nefarious designs.

Newspapers and magazines extolled the ‘the hero of Raniganj’  and carried extensive stories of how 65 lives were saved after being trapped for 72 hours. 

In November 1991 he was decorated with the highest civilian gallantry award of India – Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak -Highest Life Saviour Medal by the then President of India R. Venkatraghavan. 

For reasons best known to the authorities, instead of gracefully giving the award at a proper Presidential ceremony, the award was sent to the District Magistrate of Burdwan, West Bengal, who wanted to hold an investiture ceremony at the district level, but my father politely turned it down and just took the citation individually.

Soon after this, he was transferred to Bharat Coking Coal Limited -BCCL, another subsidiary of Coal India Ltd with its headquarters in Dhanbad. He served at three important posts here till his retirement in March 1998 from the post of Executive Director (Safety and Rescue).

Upon retirement, he returned to his hometown Amritsar and led a simple life keeping himself busy with Rotary Club activities and constructing a hotel for my younger brother. 

Being a quiet humble person, despite his gigantic achievement in saving scores of lives, his act of unparalleled bravery stayed hidden.

I then took it upon myself to make people aware of his outstanding feat which led to him being invited to address meets to share his act of valour, making him a known figure in the holy city of Amritsar. 23 years after his daring act, his former employers Coal India Limited awarded him with the Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Besides Coal India Limited -CIL,  he has also received lifetime achievement awards from the Institute of Engineers ( Punjab & Chandigarh) and the Indian School of Mines Alumni Association, Delhi Chapter.

It is a matter of pride for the Sikh community, Indians at large, and the mining fraternity in particular that all over India, the mining fraternity observes 16 November as Rescue Day.

It is a matter of pride for the Sikh community, Indians at large, and the mining fraternity in particular that all over India, the mining fraternity observes 16 November as Rescue Day.

Following the footsteps of his siblings, even after retirement, he did not lead a laid back life. He became the President of the Rotary Club of Amritsar and visiting Professor (Mining) at Dr B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar.

Amritsar administration nominated him as a lifetime member of the Disaster Management Committee of the city.

A true Sikh -a learner throughout life, my father Jaswant Singh Gill once again joined his alma mater Khalsa College of Law as a regular law student at the ripe age of 78 years. Unfortunately, he passed away while in the second year of his studies.

In 2017 he was approached by Tinu Desai from Mumbai, who had directed the Bollywood movie Rustom with actor Akshay Kumar and offered to make a Hindi movie on the rescue. Unfortunately, my father passed away on 26 November 2019, following a massive cardiac arrest. 

Jaswant Singh Gill’s life story will be told in its full glory for posterity soon and even though posthumously, justice will have to be done.

Dr Sarpreet Singh Gill is the eldest son of Late Engineer Jaswant Singh Gill. A doctor by profession, he is a Cardiologist. He is the Medical Director of Mahabir Hospital, Amritsar.