Rat hole mining was banned in 2014 by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) after it was found that miners are regularly trapped inside the mines when they are suddenly flooded and the coal mine owners quietly leave them inside the watery graves. However, the ban led to the entire coal mining operations going underground. Another mining tragedy inside an illegally operated coal mine in Dima Hasao area of Umrangshu, Assam recently has raised the temperature surrounding this inhuman activity. Nine coal miners were allegedly trapped inside a coal mine on January 6, a stark reminder of the 2018 Ksan mining tragedy in East Jaintia Hills in 2018. There too the navy divers were brought in but they could not retrieve all the dead bodies for the simple reason that by the time the dewatering process begins the miners are already dead inside the mines. Usually miners go down about 200 feet inside a mine and then begin to dig the coal seams sideways in a horizontal direction. Oftentimes they accidentally dig into an adjacent abandoned mine that is flooded and that is how water enters a mine and floods it. It is to prevent such hazards and human rights violations that the National Green Tribunal banned rat hole mining and directed the states to come up with a plan for scientific coal mining as per the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations)Act 1957.
Illegal mining and transportation of coal is a continuing saga in Meghalaya. Vested interests with political backing continue to violate not just illegal mining but other laws as well since they are treated with kid gloves. Such people are normally members of political parties of the party/parties in power. The police are caught between the devil and the deep sea since orders from the top suggest that they should look the other way when such coal carrying trucks pass. The irony is that the discerning public is aware of all these goings-on so it is strange that the higher-ups in the police department have not seized any coal carrying trucks for a very long time. Anyone passing through the Shillong-Guwahati highway cannot miss the dust as they get closer to the Umling toll gate. There is a weighbridge that is located inside a turn-off from the main road. Normally trucks coming from the Shillong side carry clinkers, cement and coal which is cleverly covered with tarpaulin. The same is the case with coal coming from the Garo Hills via West Khasi Hills. Now that Bangladesh is in a deep mess coal supply to Bangladesh through manipulated challans has temporarily stopped. The fact that challans can be forged to allow illegal transactions means that the Transport Department too is involved.
Since coal and coke are important raw materials in any cement company, as fuel or oil and natural gas work out more expensive, it is clear that coal and coke which continues to be produced in Lumshnong area of Jaintia Hills region sustain the 7-8 cement companies there. That all this is not taken cognizance of by the NGT shows just how lax the rule of law in Meghalaya and in this country is. Humans will continue to die inside mines while the institutions of the state look the other way with occasional reactions that hardly make a difference. For the impoverished miners life goes on until death inside the dark mines claims them.
