NEW DELHI/ SHILLONG: The Supreme Court on Monday postponed the hearing on the PIL in the trapped miners rescue case for Tuesday but commented that none of them might remain alive after so many days.
The bench headed by Justice AK Sikri on Monday said that “it seems to be certain that nobody is alive”. But the case was deferred since the Solicitor General could not attend the case today.
The bench will resume hearing on Tuesday.
In the meantime, the petitioner Aditya N Prasad, in a submission has stressed on de-watering of the mine saying it is a sine qua non for the success of the rescue operation and asked the court to issue directive in this regard so that the trapped miners can be found and rescued and their right to life is protected in terms of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
At least 15 miners were trapped in a rat-hole coal mine at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills district on December 13 when water flooded it. A multi-agency rescue effort has so far succeeded in recovering the body of a miner while detecting another.
The submission regretted that despite detailed suggestions made in consultation with various experts, most of these have not been considered and there is no communication from the state government in this regard.
Referring to the report of the report of the National Institute of Hydrology that 15-20 pumps of 1000 GPM (gallons per minute) capacity would be required to effectively de-water the mine shaft in about 4-5 days, it said the petitioner had requested KBL (Kirloskar Brothers Limited) for additional pumps and he has been informed that these ready to be airlifted.
The petitioner also said that respondents were also yet to request assistance of army in terms of logistical and air support and the assistance of engineers/ sappers who may assist in installation of the pumps and boring a vertical shaft adjacent to the point where the bodies have been spotted in order to enable the Navy to lower its ROV (underwater remotely-operated vehicle) and carry out its rescue operations effectively.
He quoted newspaper reports saying that the ROV is facing major difficulty in navigation inside the mines due to high level of turbidity of the water. “In this regard, dewatering is the only solution left apart from chemical interventions for reducing turbidity in the water.
“The North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat, Assam and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad (both are CSIR labs) are competent to give technical guidance in this regard,” the petioner said adding he is trying to establish contact with them.
On the other hand, official sources said the ROV on Monday continued its search for the second body that was detected in the mine on January 26, but has since been untraceable.
On the navy’s request pumping of water was suspended from 8 pm on Sunday till 10 am of Monday for the smooth functioning of the ROV.
