Mission Raniganj: Who is Jaswant Singh Gill, the inspiration behind Akshay Kumar’s character | Explained

Born in Amritsar in 1940, Jaswant Singh Gill studied at Khalsa School and later took admission in BSc (non-medical) at Khalsa College (Amritsar). He studied BSc (Honours) from the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, before joining Coal India Limited in 1973. Throughout his tenure, he kept growing at his work and ultimately retired in 1998 as Engineer-in-chief. The most significant event of his over two-decade career was the rescue mission at the Mahabir Colliery, Raniganj, West Bengal. He saved the lives of 65 miners who were trapped in a flooded coal mine. He also got the moniker of Capsule Gill after the incident.

What happened in Mahabir colliery in Raniganj, West Bengal?

On the night of November 13, 1989, 232 miners were employed in the night shift to work towards the rise-most area of the 320-foot-deep mine to excavate coal through explosions. At around 4 am, there was a sudden influx of water, and the mine got flooded. The 161 miners who were near the two lifts in the pit could be rescued immediately, but 71 of them were far off and couldn’t reach the lift due to the water. Fortunately, there was a telephone connection between the borehole and the surface, through which a message was sent that 65 miners had taken shelter at a rise part of the pit, but six of them had gone missing.

Jaswant Singh Gill’s role in saving the miners of Mahabir colliery in Raniganj

According to reports published in The Indian Express, Senior engineer Jasawant Gill, who was a part of one of the teams formed for rescue operations, came up with an idea that nobody could have imagined.

He thought of making steel capsule to use it for rescuing the miners trapped in the dead hole. The steel capsule was constructed in 72 hours and after a few trial runs up and down the borehole, rescue of men began on November 16 at 2.30 am. Gill insisted on going into the capsule himself to bring out the trapped men. After initial opposition from the top officials of Coal India Limited, Gill entered the capsule and brought out all of the 65 men one by one by 8:30 am. Initially, it took 15 minutes for one round trip of the capsule. So, a 12-tonne crane was put into service for lowering and raising the capsule and this reduced the cycle time to just 3 minutes.

To celebrate Gill’s act of bravery, Coal India Ltd announced November 16 as ‘Rescue Day’. Limca Book of Records has certified this operation as a national record in the history of coal mining. Akshay Kumar’s role in Mission Raniganj is inspired from this true incident.

(With added inputs from agencies)

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