Meghalaya illegal coal mine blast toll rises to 25; two arrested

SHillong: The dying toll from the blowup at an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya’s e Jaiñtia Hills rosebush to 25 on fri following the recovery of seven more bodies, even as rescue teams continued to comb the remote site. Meanwhile, police have arrested two people in connection with the incident.The blast occurred inside an unauthorised mine in the Mynsyngat–Thangskai area, under the jurisdiction of the Umpleng police outpost.“The total casualty is 25 now. Eighteen bodies were recovered yesterday. Four more bodies were recovered today. One injured person succumbed to injuries at NEIGRIHMS, and two bodies were brought by family members — one to Khliehriat Civil Hospital and another to Jowai Civil Hospital,” East Jaiñtia Hills Superintendent of Police (SP) Vikas Kumar Yadav said.Police on Thursday registered a suo motu FIR at Khliehriat police station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, and the Explosives Substances Act. “Two people have been arrested so far,” Yadav said, adding that further investigation is underway to identify others involved in the operation.Teams from the National Disaster Response Force, the State Disaster Response Force, and a special rescue unit are continuing rescue and search operations at the site. “The search operation is still underway, and all efforts are being made to find any remaining victims and complete the identification process at the earliest,” the Director General of Police (DGP) said.The deaths have once again drawn attention to rat-hole mining, a hazardous method that involves digging narrow horizontal tunnels, usually three to four feet high, to extract coal. The practice, common in parts of Meghalaya, has been officially banned for more than a decade.Amid mounting public anger, Meghalaya-based NGO Hynniewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO) has stepped up pressure on the government by submitting a petition to Governor C.H. Vijayashankar, demanding a probe by a central agency into the incident.In the letter, HITO rejected attempts to portray the blast as an accident, accusing the political leadership of sustained protection and deliberate non-enforcement that allowed illegal mining to flourish. The organisation argued that district-level officials are routinely scapegoated after such disasters, while those with political influence remain untouched.The organisation also questioned the citizenship status of several deceased labourers, urging that no compensation or ex gratia payments be released until citizenship is conclusively verified. It further pointed to the location of the mine, describing it as effectively “no man’s land” under Meghalaya’s land tenure system, vulnerable to encroachment by those with money, muscle power, and political backing.Several incidents resulting in the deaths of workers have occurred in these mines over the years despite rulings by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Supreme Court banning mining.In 2019, Justice B.P. Katakey (Retd), who headed an NGT-appointed committee on the issue, submitted several recommendations to regulate rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya. These recommendations formed the basis of directions issued by the Supreme Court in July 2019.One of the Supreme Court’s directions allowed the sale of coal extracted prior to the NGT’s 2014 ban on rat-hole mining in Meghalaya. This was exploited as a loophole to extract fresh coal and pass it off as old stock.In 2022, the Meghalaya High Court again asked a panel led by Justice Katakey to review compliance. In his preliminary findings, the former judge reported widespread violations of tribunal and court orders.