Rampant illegal coal mining in Meghalya exposed, now illegal coal transportation too

More than 70 trucks transporting coal out of Meghalaya had been stopped at the inter-state border by Assam police for not having the necessary papers.

Over 70 trucks carrying coal have been prevented by Assam police from crossing into their state apparently because they do not have the appropriate paperwork but Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday declined to comment on the matter, saying he has yet to receive information from authorities in Assam.

Rescue efforts continued at the mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills where 15 people were trapped even as incidence of illegal coal transportation from the state also came to light (HT Photo)

“I don’t know about this case … so, I think that without getting any official communication from Assam on what really has happened, I think it would be really inappropriate for me to comment,” Sangma said. “If I do get in writing from the Assam government that these things are happening, we will then accordingly decide how to move forward,” he added.

Sources late Monday night told HT that more than 70 trucks transporting coal had been stopped by Assam police and had allegedly tried to bribe their way through, but to no avail. This suggests that given the Supreme Court deadline on transporting coal of January 31 and after the Meghalaya government have belatedly started to act against illegal mining activities, there is a rush to transport as much coal as possible out of the state.

“We have not allowed any vehicles through that don’t have the requisite P forms,” Amitabh Sinha, superintendent of police of Assam’s Goalpara district, on the border with Meghalaya, told HT over phone. “When there is a rush of trucks maybe one or two might slip through but our policy is that we will not allow any truck to enter Assam without the requisite forms,” he added.

Sinha could not give an exact number of the trucks that were denied entry, but he said that a multi-departmental taskforce has been constituted by the district administration to check the issue.

Meghalaya’s leader of the opposition and former chief minister. Mukul Sangma took potshots at the government by saying that their “greed” for coal has landed the state with a whopping ₹100 crore fine by the National Green Tribunal.

The fine was imposed by the green tribunal for the illegal coal mining that has gone on in the state despite the NGT’s four-year ban.

“This is the outcome of the extreme greed of the people in power,” Dr. Sangma said.

“The BJP and NPP both promised the people of the state to open up coal mining if they were elected to power. Actually what they did was open up illegal coal mining within six months (of forming the government),” he said.

Pumping out water on at mine site, no trace of miners

At the rescue site in East Jaintia Hills, more than 1.6 million (16 lakh) litres of water was pumped out of three flooded mine shafts by the various agencies present on the ground on Tuesday but rescuers are still far away from making an attempt to enter the flooded shafts themselves.

Six more pumps belonging to Coal India arrived today and should be set up soon to give a further boost to the efforts to pump out more water than is seeping in from the nearby river.

Indian Navy divers went down the main mine to free a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that had become stuck yesterday and remove an encumbrance that was hindering the operation of the Kirloskar Brothers pump.