SHILLONG: The East Jaintia Hills district administration and police would have to step up their vigil in November as there are apprehensions that illegal coal mining may start once again during the dry season as the rain has almost subsided in Meghalaya.
Officials informed that as of now, most of the coal mines in the district are full of water and challenges of stopping illegal coal mining usually start in November during dry season and that is the time when the police and the district administration would have to step up their vigil.
The statement assumes significance as it was in November last year that the activists Agnes Kharshiing and her colleague Amita Sangma were assaulted by the coal dealers and in December, the Ksan mine tragedy took place.
Officials informed that usually, the district police along with other related departments conduct surprise raids in mines as and when information is received about illegal coal mining in the district and if police detect anything, cases are registered.
Lamenting that there are a lot of challenges for detecting illegal coal mining activities in the district, officials added that sometimes, they have to walk 4-5 hours in internal areas and they mainly depend on information to detect illegal coal mines operating in the district.
In addition, poor mobile connectivity is also posing a major challenge for the law enforcing agencies to detect and stop cases of illegal coal mining in the district.
According to the officials, in the recent past, they have witnessed a new trend of coal suppliers resorting to forge challans to transport coal and in the last one month, two-three trucks have been detected plying with forged challans.
Terming the entire scenario as a cat and mouse game between the law enforcing agencies and the people who want to illegally transport coal, officials added that the police also have set up checkpoints in different parts of the district which, however, are mainly concentrated on national highways.
