It appears that the Police and District Administration of East Jaintia Hills are treading warily on yet another reported mine tragedy by saying they are not yet aware of it. Coal miners are regularly trapped inside the mines either because of mine flooding or some other accident and that this happens despite the ban on coal mining since 2014 suggests a deeper conspiracy between the mine owners who are the so-called high- level operators, the political class and businesspersons of the state. They have a complete hold on the underground business. There are reports that hundreds of trucks continue to ply from the coal mining districts of East Jaintia Hills, West Khasi Hills and Garo Hills to Assam and beyond. Sometimes the coal is rerouted via Assam to Bangladesh in what is a smooth operation with inter-state cooperation and the connivance of the Mining and Transport Departments.
The guarded response of the East Jaintia Hills Police and Administration suggests they are treading on eggshells since they are carrying out orders to look the other way as far as coal mining and transportation is concerned. When the state becomes the chief facilitator of illegal coal mining it would be naïve to expect the underlings to take action against the high and mighty who also wield political power. Such action requires that those paid with public money develop a spine and serve the Constitution and not the political bosses. But that would mean a punishment posting and who wants that? The MDA government and those before it too have pretended that are they ignorant about illegal coal mining and transportation even when it carries on in broad daylight. The 2018 coal mining tragedy at Ksan was itself an indictment of the Government which was literally caught lying. But there appears to be no system strong enough to coerce the government to come down with a heavy hand on illegal coal mining because the political class are perpetually in need of cash and illegal coal mining and transportation yields the money that is needed to fight elections.
The Justice Katakey Committee that has been supervising the entire process and evaluating how much of the coal is previously extracted and how much is freshly mined has virtually been on a wild goose chase because the very system is against them. They are swimming against the tide.The answer as to how long this illegality will carry one and how many lives have to be buried underneath the earth unbeknownst to the world is blowing in the wind. The story of illegal coal mining is also that of desperate people looking for livelihoods and willing to pay with their lives for a livelihood. Poverty is a cruel master indeed!
