By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 7: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Saturday said shutting down an estimated 22,000 abandoned mines in the state was an enormous and physically demanding task.
He described it as the “real challenge” for the administration in the wake of the fatal explosion at an illegal rat-hole coal mine in East Jaintia Hills, which has claimed 27 lives so far.
“Even if authorities close 10 or 20 mines a day with full teams deployed exclusively for the purpose, it will still take years to complete the exercise in just one district,” the Chief Minister said.
He said that the scale of the problem makes enforcement extremely difficult, particularly when the administration is simultaneously relying on satellite monitoring and other mechanisms to track illegal activity.
Sangma stated that while the government is addressing the issue, incidents such as the recent blast continue to occur.
In January, Justice (Retd) BP Katakey, head of the High Court-appointed Coal Mining Monitoring Committee, directed the East Jaintia Hills district administration to urgently identify low-cost methods to seal more than 22,000 abandoned rat-hole coal mines across the district.
Calling the open pits a grave threat to human life and the environment, Justice Katakey said the challenge lies not in intent but in cost-effective execution. He underlined illegal mining and explosions as the challenges in tackling the issue.
Maintaining that the government has taken the matter very seriously, the Chief Minister said more than 1,000 cases have been registered, and hundreds of individuals have been charge-sheeted in connection with illegal mining activities. He added that enforcement agencies have regularly been acting to identify and proceed against those involved.
Referring to the site of the recent explosion, Sangma said the location is extremely remote and inaccessible through normal routes, requiring four-wheel-drive vehicles to reach.
In such vast and difficult terrain, he said, it is not always easy for the police, given manpower constraints, to conduct regular surveys and detailed searches.
Stating that existing manpower may be adequate for routine law-and-order duties, he said extensive monitoring and search operations across large areas would require significantly greater deployment. He added that instructions have already been issued as part of a comprehensive action plan and that additional police manpower will be allocated to strengthen enforcement efforts.
Currently, a pilot project is underway to seal 50 abandoned mines, based on a technical report submitted by the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited.
