It could take 60 days to drain water from mine where 9 men perished in Assam

After a Cabinet meeting in Morigaon Thursday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that it has decided to extend financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to the families of each of the victims, including those whose bodies have not yet been found. He also announced the decision to order a judicial inquiry led by Justice Anima Hazarika, a retired judge of the Gauhati High Court, which will be entrusted to submit a report on the incident within three months.

This decision comes 10 days after the incident, when at least nine miners were trapped in a rate-hole mine in the Umrangso reserves at Assam’s Dima Hasao district after it got flooded. Search and rescue operations by the Indian Army, Navy, the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force have been taking place since then, and the bodies of four of the men have been retrieved. The Navy has now withdrawn from the operations, and the mine continues to be flooded despite continuous dewatering being conducted.

While a case registered in connection with the incident is already being investigated by the Dima Hasao police – in which two individuals who allegedly operated the mine have been arrested – the state Cabinet has also decided to direct the DGP to constitute an SIT for the investigation. The working of the SIT is to be monitored by the Justice Anima Hazarika Commission.

Speaking about the rescue efforts, Sarma said officials apprised the Cabinet that it could take up to 60 days to drain all the water from the mine and that the Cabinet had given its permission for the dewatering to continue “till we reach a logical conclusion”.

He said that a team from the Geological Survey of India has found that there were 14 crore litres of water in the linked underwater system the mine is a part of, of which 4 crore litres have been successfully removed so far.

“The Cabinet had asked the officers how long the dewatering process will take. They have said that at the current pace, between 25 and 60 days are still required. We have given them permission to continue this dewatering work. It will continue in the presence of Indian Army and Army engineers, till we reach a logical conclusion. And the aim is to remove 11 crore litres of water from the pit,” he said.

In the face of mounting political pressure with opposition parties pointing to the BJP and questioning whether these illegal mining operations could be conducted without the knowledge of the government and local authorities, Sarma also announced a decision to trace the origin of these illegal mines, something that is also likely to put the scanner on previous governments.

“Many people have questioned how this rat hole mining was done here. When we examined where the mining happened from, then it was seen that in that region 220 such illegal mines are there. To understand where and how these 220 mines came to be, we will have to keep going back with satellite images. With these satellite images, we will be able to determine in which these mines started,” he said, stating that the state government will even seek out ISRO and foreign satellite agencies for data.

He also said that the state government will seek the help of the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute in Jharkhand to fill up the mines.