SHILLONG: The state government on Friday heaved a sigh of relief after the Supreme Court accepted its application to cease rescue operations at the coal mine in Ksan, East Jaintia Hills, where 16 miners were trapped after water flooded it on December 13 last year.
The state government had spent over Rs 3.5 crore in the multi-agency rescue operation till May.
Speaking on the order, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the government will call a meeting on the clearance given by the Supreme Court.
“ We will be deciding on that line,” the chief minister said while pointing out that the order has not come out officially and any decision would be taken based on the order.
On the other hand, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Kyrmen Shylla said that the order was a huge relief for the state as the rescue operations have been going on for months despite all odds and without any positive results.
Almost seven months since the tragedy struck, the rescue operations failed to yield the desired result.
So far only two bodies of the miners have been retrieved from the coal mine. A third body was also detected, but could not be brought out as it was highly decomposed.
While rescue teams from Odisha Fire Service, Navy and Army team eventually left, the NDRF and SDRF besides firms like Kirloskar Brothers and Coal India Limited stayed back particularly to continue with the dewatering of the mines. Even dewatering was suspended recently following heavy rain and flood in the area.
The state government had filed an application before the Supreme Court to consider calling off the operations.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said that the government had filed the application before the Supreme Court to call of the rescue operations after experts said that it was impossible to rescue the miners. “ We are happy that the Supreme Court have agreed to the affidavit filed by us,” he said
