SHILLONG: Besides being a couple, Siswilfor Dkhar and Priyanka Phawa from East Jaintia Hills have another thing in common — both are victims of coal business in the state.
While Dkhar (27) was injured while working in a coal mine in May last year, his wife is awaiting justice after her mother was killed in the infamous 2014 Mookhep police firing over the coal mining issue.
After failing to get medical facilities, Dkhar was admitted at Shillong Civil Hospital on Thursday and his wife tagged along to look after him.
Dkhar revealed that he was forced to work in the coal mine at Musniang in East Jaintia Hills to eke out a living. Dkhar’s right leg was injured while he was working inside the coal mine.
Out of fear, he did not report the matter to the police but the manager and the owner of the coal mine did not provide any compensation to him.
Later, the police received information about the incident and they carried out a preliminary inquiry.
Though the police claimed that Dkhar sustained injuries in a road accident which also claimed his parents, he averred that the injury due to the road accident which took place 10 years ago was on his left leg whereas the injury due to the coal mine mishap in 2019 was on his right leg.
After he could not get the required treatment, Dkhar sought the help of a herbal healer at Mawphlang and later he was admitted at civil hospital.
Dkhar said since he is poor, he cannot afford medical treatment and his wife does not have a regular job.
Their two children are currently staying with Dkhar’s sister.
Phawa, meanwhile, is yet to get any job from the government despite an assurance after her mother, Setlang Phawa, was killed in the firing incident in Mookhep.
Phawa said that while one of the relatives of another deceased got a government job, she was deprived of the same.
Two persons — Derestmon Siangshai and Setlang — were killed and seven others injured in the police firing at Mookhep in East Jaintia Hills district on September 24, 2014 while they were part of a group agitating over varied issues related to the NGT ban on coal mining.
