You will forget “kgf” when you read the true incidents narrated in the book “Dhanbad-The Economics of Coal-The Mafia”.


On 12 January 2025, Shri Pramod Kumar Gupta released 2 books. When he was asked how he got the inspiration to write the books, he told us how & why he wrote the books and also told us comprehensively about the books.
Inspiration to write
He said that he had a haemorrhage in 2021. He survived death. He reached the extreme stage of debilitation. He had to face a lot of difficulties – like difficulty in speaking, walking and a lot of other problems. Convalescing gradually, he regained health to some extent. With a supporting wife who is a doctor, he resolved that he would bounce back with his passion for writing. He quit his lucrative job of the CEO of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association which he had taken up after his superannuation as a Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (an IRS officer). He said his inspiration was from his desire to live life at an intellectual and aesthetic level. The inspiration was strengthened by his wife’s love and care and her adoration of his writing skills. He picked up the pen and started writing. In the year 2023 his first book came with the name “And living again”. In the same year he published another book in Hindi with the title “Avyakt”. He repeated that his wife played the most major role enabling him to do all this.

About his book “Dhanbad – the economics of coal -the mafia”,
He said that at the beginning of his career when he was a young officer, he was posted as Assistant Director of Income Tax Investigation at Dhanbad. Dhanbad is a very important city of India because coal mining takes place there at a large scale. Known as the Black Diamond City,there was coal mining at a large scale in and around Dhanbad. He talks about mining in the1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He narrates the stories of corruption in the industry at that time. He also informs about the nexus of the industry with the criminals. Shri Suryadev Singh was a big name who also became a political leader.His name also was included among the coal mafia. The author said that he had interactions with the coal mafia as an investigator.Massive tax evasion was unearthed by him. He also informs us that he raided the house of a prominent businessman, a member of the mafia of the 90s. After 10 to 15 days of the raid, his office was burnt down. And he has written a lot of things about how he handled the situation after the arson and retrieved revenue of crores for which he was rewarded by the government. He has indicated the dubious roles of the police and the CBI after the arson. He makes a reference to ”Gangs of Wasseypur”, the movie. While appreciating the film, he highlights that real story is different from the ‘reel
The second book ” Living Through Times”
In this book, he has discussed issues which have bothered the nation since independence. The issues are Corruption, Secularism, Bureaucracy, The Revenue wing of the government, the Jawaharlal University etc. In the first chapter he has written about the world of books and he has written about those books which have touched human sensibilities and contributed towards improving human civilization.The caption of the second chapter is ‘living with words’. In this, he has explained how important words are and how life gets enriched by words. He informs that his father was a government officer in the 60s and 70s and his father had written Articles on a variety of topics. At that time Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was quite prominent in Pakistan. He had written about him with the caption “Bhuto and things to come”. Pramod Kumar Gupta has cited a few Articles of his father. In this chapter a glimpse of the 60s and 70s is provided.The name of the third chapter is “lest we forget” . In this chapter the author wants to say that we can not afford to forget our past if we have to create a better future. In this chapter he has discussed the life of two lady doctors from Bhagalpur Bihar. The chapters on contentious issues start after these three chapters.
Both the books by Pramod Kumar Gupta are written in such a style that one can not stop without finishing.