Days before 23 people were killed in an explosion in an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya, an activist and a retired judge flagged a series of deaths from similar explosions in illegal rat-hole mines in the same area.
Their warnings went unheeded.
On January 8, activist Agnes Kharshiing wrote to the director of Central Bureau of Investigation, alleging that the police were covering up a blast on December 23 in an illegal mine in Thangsko area in East Jaintia Hills. A 34-year-old worker died in the explosion, she said, urging the CBI to investigate the case.
On January 17, a committee appointed by Meghalaya High Court flagged another accident in Thangsko area, in which at least one person was killed in a blast in an illegal coal mine. “My report said there should be some action,” retired Gauhati High Court judge Brojendra Prasad Katakey told Scroll.
The High Court had appointed Katakey to monitor the implementation of the ban on rat-hole mining, which entails digging small vertical pits to reach the mineral, often making it dangerous for miners. The ban had been imposed by the National Green Tribunal in 2014 on the grounds that the rathole technique was unsafe and unscientific.
Katakey added: “I had also informed district officials [about...
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