Court pulls up Meghalaya government for turning blind eye to rampant illegal coal mining in state

The order follows a visit by the three-judge bench, accompanied by the state chief secretary, to Khliehriat in East Jaintia Hills district, the hub of coal mining in Meghalaya.

The court said that the visit made it evident that illegal coal mining was “rampant and may be even more intense in areas which are not easily accessible”. The court said it saw “tell-tale signs of mining activities”. “For tens of miles, freshly mined coal is dumped on both sides of the road in plain view,” the court observed.

The NGT in 2014 had banned rat-hole mining — a risk-laden technique that entails digging narrow vertical tunnels to extract coal — in Meghalaya. However, there have been several reports of mining continuing illegally despite the court order. In December 2018, at least 15 workers died after they were trapped in one such mine in East Jaintia Hills.

The court on Monday pulled up the Meghalaya government for turning a “Nelson’s eye” to such illegal activities. “It is surprising that the state has not resorted to drone photography to monitor the activities in the less accessible areas. It is alarming that district magistrates, sub-divisional officers and even block level officers are in place along with their counterparts from the police right up to the superintendent of police; but all of them turn a Nelson’s eye to such illegal activities,” it said.

It also came down hard on the state government for doing “precious little” to ensure that previously mined coal was transported and auctioned, as per the directions of the NGT and the Supreme Court.

The court added that while the chief secretary and the director general of police had filed reports indicating that some action had been taken, it was evident that the Supreme Court’s directions were not adhered to.

It has now directed that the chief secretary deal with each of the court’s directions and recommendations in four weeks when it will hear the matter again.