Corporate push to rescue ops

JOWAI: Rescue operations at the illegal rat-hole mine at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills district where 15 miners are trapped since December 13 are poised to change gears with Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (KBL), a pump manufacturing company, and Coal India Limited (CIL) moving in to help.
Indian Air Force, too, will chip in by airlifting personnel and equipment of National Disaster Management Authority.
Ever since water from the river and probably also from the numerous interconnected mines flooded the mine trapping the miners, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force have been at the forefront of the rescue operations. However, their efforts failed to bear fruit as the available pumps were not powerful enough to reduce the water level in the main shaft to a point where the NDRF divers could work.
While officials of the KBL visited the site on Thursday for stock-taking, those from CIL are expected on Friday.
The visit of the KBL officials comes after the company expressed its concern and willingness on Wednesday to help in the ongoing rescue operations by providing equipment to drain out the water, which has been the stumbling block, from the mine.
Sources said officials from Coal India Limited are also expected to arrive at the site on Friday.
Defence spokesperson Ratnakar Singh said the National Disaster Management Authority has requested the IAF to airlift rescuers with equipment from Bhubaneswar to either Guwahati or Shillong airport on Friday.
Meanwhile, sources said Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma discussed the incident with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi on Thursday. The details of the meeting were not available.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted to draw Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attention to the mine mishap.
“15 miners have been struggling for air in a flooded coal mine for two weeks. Meanwhile, PM struts about on Bogibeel Bridge posing for cameras. His government refuses to organise high pressure pumps for the rescue. PM please save the miners,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted, referring to PM Modi launching India’s longest railroad bridge in neighbouring Assam on Tuesday.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also tweeted on the accident on Thursday saying he has been speaking to Sanjay Kirloskar, chief of KBL Pumps, about helping in the crisis in Meghalaya.
In another tweet, he said, “2 things are clear: (1) request has come unconscionably late. Govt seems to have been v.slow off the block. (2) We need better preparations & standby equipment for water-related disasters, whether floods or rains. The National Disaster Relief Force should have pumps at the ready”.
Denying the charge of inaction, the Chief Minister told a television channel, “It’s not the time to play politics. There is no question of calling off the operation. The operation is going to go to a different level now.”
Sawkmie salvo at Jitendra Singh
Opposition chief whip and Congress MLA, PT Sawkmie, has slammed the Union DoNER Minister, Jitendra Singh, for not visiting the state even as 15 labourers continue to remain trapped inside the coal mine.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, Sawkmie said that the DoNER Minister, Jitendra Singh, has failed to perform and work for the interest of the Northeastern region especially the state of Meghalaya.
“This is a time when the state needs his help to supervise and to take control of the situation in the coal mine in East Jaintia Hills along with the state machinery and NDRF,” he said while adding that the minister so far has not done anything which is unfortunate.
Ministers’ visit
Meanwhile, Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui, the Disaster Management Minister, Kyrmen Shylla, visited the illegal coal mine at Khloo Ryngksan on Thursday.
The ministers visited the mining site 14 days after the incident and after the Opposition Congress criticised the government for not sending any. Earlier only the Congress MLA of Rajabala Constituency, West Garo Hills, visited the place.
Speaking to media persons at the mine site, Rymbui said, “When this tragedy happened the District Administration had taken steps to rescue the miners and to say that the state government has woken up late, is totally wrong”.
The Education Minister further stated that the high pressure pumps may reach any time and with the help of the experts from the Coal India Limited “we hope we can pump out the water from the mine shaft to enable the rescue teams to search and rescue the miners trapped inside”.
Kyrmen Shylla also said that the rescue work is very complicated and if the wall of another abandoned pit nearby has been breached, then it will take time to pump out the water as more than 90 mines are interconnected in the area. (With inputs from agencies)