BBC correspondent in Kolar Gold Fields

Lost lustre of British-India's El Dorado

By Habib Beary

BBC correspondent in Kolar Gold Fields

George Bastian and Ivor Steiner, 73 and 70, look back with nostalgia to a golden age of opulent colonial bungalows and endless dances in teak-floored ballrooms.

Dilapidated building

The town's colonial buildings have seen better days

They say they saw the best of times - convent schools, rubbish-free roads, uninterrupted electricity, skating rinks and a party for every season - the Valentine Ball, Easter Ball, Summer Ball and the Monsoon Ball, to name a few.

They lived in homes paid for by the company - an 18-room dwelling for Mr Bastian, a slightly smaller one for Mr Steiner.

But the good times eventually left behind the mining town of Kolar Gold Fields, 100km from the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

Mr Steiner and Mr Bastian are now witnesses to the slow decline of the settlement once known as Chhota England, or Little England.

Social unrest

The gold mines were started by the British company, John Taylor and Sons, in 1880, when India was still under British rule.

They ran it until 1956, when the Indian government took control.

Disused mine

There is more gold left, say workers - it just costs too much to mine

In 2001, the state-run Bharat Gold Mines decided to close the site down in the face of mounting losses.

Nearly 200,000 people lived in Kolar Gold Fields - most of them dependent on the mines for their livelihoods.

Official estimates say the mines have spawned a gold flow of 800 tons over the last 100 years.

One of the mines, the Champion Reef, was recognised as one of the deepest in the world - 3.2km below the surface.

"They [the residents] thought there will be gold forever," says the town's Superintendent of Police, BNS Reddy.

"After the mines closed, there is poverty, and unemployment. It has led to social unrest," he concludes.