SHILLONG: The Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) on Saturday organised a public vigil and inter-faith prayer meeting in Khyndailad for the safe return of the 15 coal miners trapped in an illegal coal mine at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills.
Rev PBM Basaiawmoit led the prayer and while speaking on the occasion, said, “We are so indifferent to the miseries of our friends who are in that coal mine.”
Stating that he is hoping for a miracle, he also hoped that the New Year would not be welcomed with another unfortunate incident while lamenting that there is indifference toward the incident which has rocked the nation.
Amita Sangma, who was brutally attacked in East Jaintia Hills along with Agnes Kharshiing, also spoke briefly and said that politicians and police are also involved in the entire controversy of coal mining,
She also recalled that she and Agnes Kharshiing were refused security when they went to Ladrymbai police station before being attacked.
Later, TUR member Angela Rangad, while speaking to media persons, lamented that there has been some amount of apathy whether from the government or the general public for not only delaying the rescue operation, but also the delay in ensuring that there is no more illegal mining in the state.
She said that they are undermining all the institutions like NGT and Supreme Court on the issue of coal mining and it just shows, “You don’t care about the orders of the tribunals and the Supreme Court.”
She said that greed has overtaken and people in government and administration are involved in it which is the crux of the matter or else it is not difficult to know that illegal coal is being transported or mined.
“The tribunals and the Supreme Court cannot be undermined by the coal mafia in Meghalaya,” she said.
When asked if there has been apathy on the part of the government to speed up the rescue operation since most of the trapped coal miners are migrant workers, she said in the past too, there have been many accidents but no one came to know about these may be due to the threat and intimidation by the mine owners.
“This incident has blown up because there were locals and their mothers were waiting for them to return or else it would have been hushed up and families of the miners would have been intimidated by saying that they were engaged in illegal mining,” she said.