AG to submit letters of nine families to SC

SHILLONG: The state Advocate General, Amit Kumar, will submit letters of nine families expressing their wish that the ongoing rescue operations at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills district be called off to the Supreme Court.
The families want adequate compensation since the rescue operations have been futile till date.
A senior government official said on Thursday that the East Jaintia Hills Deputy Commissioner received the letters from nine families asking that the rescue operations be called off.
The nine families include two from Lumthari, East Jaintia Hills, and the remaining from Assam.
Though the seven affected families of Rajabala, West Garo Hills, also wanted adequate compensation instead of carrying on with the rescue operations as conveyed by them to the local MLA Azad Zaman, they are yet to submit any letter.
As many as 16 miners were trapped in the Ksan mine after it was flooded on December 13 last. Bodies of two of them have been retrieved so far.
While the state government provided interim relief of Rs 1 lakh each to the affected families, the Centre had released Rs 2 lakh each.
Based on the letters submitted by the families, the deputy commissioner on April 16 wrote to the government to consider calling off the operations.
According to the deputy commissioner, there is no reason to continue with the rescue operations as there has been no tangible result.
Moreover, there was no reduction in the water level in the shafts despite crores of litres being pumped out, the letter said.
The deputy commissioner added that with the rain, the rescue operations will be futile.