By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Close on the heels of the mining tragedy in Garo Hills region of the State where 15 miners lost their lives inside a rat hole mine in Rongsa Awe village in South Garo Hills, questions regarding the safety and security measures in place in these mines have cropped up.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, a senior police official from Garo Hills, on condition of anonymity, said safety and security measures are expected in mines that are extracting minerals in a scientific manner.
“The mines in Garo Hills and other parts of the State are largely rat holes and so the safety and security aspect cannot be expected in such mines,” said the official.
Terming them as unscientific, the police official further said that it is up to the State Government to come up with such measures and there is nothing to say on this for him since these are policy related matters.
In this regard, it is pertinent to mention here that the state mining policy which has not yet seen the light of the day calls for an urgent approval and implementation in order to make it mandatory on the part of the mine owners in the state to adhere to the measures as per the policy.
The recent mine tragedy in Garo Hills is one of the worst in recent times whereas there are numerous such instances in the history of the State.
It may also be mentioned that the NDRF, after calling off their operation in the said coal pit citing futility, had stated that the coal mines in Meghalaya are endangering the ecology and lacks basic safety structure in place for miners. The NDRF team which used state of the art gadgets and equipment, such as, canine tracker, life detectors for scanning of body in seismic, acoustic and magnetic principles, divers and other methods in place only to find that the mine is life threatening.
Apart from this, incessant rainfall in the State couples with lack of safety structures, there is also flow of methane gas and ‘current’ inside these mines which are dangerous for the miners.