JOWAI: Robbery and theft of coal mining machineries were allegedly taking place in various coal quarries in the mineral rich East Jaintia Hills District on Thursday.
Sources informed that coal miners from Assam and Nepal have left their respective coal mines leaving various mining tools and machineries behind.
“Since nobody is present in the coal quarries, the miscreants have stolen costly machineries including water pumps and electrical motors used to pump out water from the underground mines.
According to the KSU District Unit general secretary Streamly S Niangti, as many as 19 mine owners in the district have reportedly become victims of theft.
“Women miners have also fallen victims to the growing instances of robbery in the mining areas. They walk into mining areas only to be intercepted by unknown miscreants, and subsequently looted. Their earring, finger rings (gold ornaments) were forcibly snatched away by unknown miscreants suspected to be immigrants labourers,” Niangti informed.
The KSU unit has urged the law enforcement agency to take note of the matter seriously so that none of the mine owners and the common people are criminalized by immigrant workers who are desperate to go back to their native places following the ban on mining activities.
