SHILLONG, Sep 1: Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui on Thursday admitted that monitoring illegal coal mining in remote areas is a challenge for the police but said attempts are being made to curb such illegal activities.
Referring to the recent coal mining accident at Urak (Riangdim), a remote hamlet close to Goreng under Shallang police station in West Khasi Hills district, he said policing in far-flung areas is very difficult as it takes six to seven hours to reach such places.
“But I am happy that people of the state are informing the police and when there are illegal mining activities in far-flung areas, the police try to reach the spot as soon as possible,” Rymbui said.
At least one person was killed while another was critically injured after an alleged illegal coal mine at Urak collapsed on them.
The place, though within the West Khasi Hills district, is more accessible from the South Garo Hills district.
While it takes about three hours of trekking to reach Urak from Shallang, the distance on foot is shorter from Jadi in South Garo Hills.
Rymbui stated that policing in the areas of West Khasi Hills and South West Khasi Hills bordering the Garo is the most difficult. “But in spite of the constraints, the police are trying to prevent these illegal activities as much as possible,” he said.
The Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs, Prahlad Joshi had said in the Rajya Sabha that “no coal production has been reported in Meghalaya in the last four years”. He cited the information received from the Coal Controller Organisation in his written reply to a question.
Joshi’s assertion, activists in Meghalaya said, was far from the truth.
