SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma is hopeful that the Supreme Court will realise the difficulties in continuing the rescue operation at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills and will allow the state government to call it off.
The state government has already filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court after families of the trapped miners wrote saying they had no objection to the rescue effort being called off.
The process of dewatering of mines as part of the rescue effort has been suspended after heavy rain over the past few days submerged the area.
Talking to media persons, the chief minister said that the state government is hopeful that the apex court will realise its predicament and allow the rescue operation to be stopped.
Pointing out that the nearly five-month long operation hasn’t achieved the desired success, Sangma said that the situation is quite difficult.
At least 16 miners were trapped in the ill-fated mine at Ksan on the morning of December 13 last year when water flooded it.
Of those trapped inside, bodies of only two were retrieved by the Indian Navy and the NDRF and handed over to their families. The Navy personnel left recently after a war-like situation prevailed in the country following the strike in Pakistan’s Balakot. However, NDRF and some civil and police agencies of Meghalaya are still continuing with the search.
The families of the trapped miners identified have been provided interim relief of Rs 3 lakh each. The chief minister recently informed the state Assembly that the state government had incurred an expenditure of about Rs 2.5 crore on the rescue operation till March this year.
