Ban, court directives, protests: Nothing prevents illegal coal mining in NE

Shillong/Guwahati, Dec 11 Over eight years ago the illegal coal mining, including the more dangerous practice of rat-hole mining banned by the National Green Tribunal after terming it as unscientific and most hazardous, the prohibited activities, however, continues in Meghalaya and other northeastern states despite the Supreme Court and High Court's series of subsequent directions.

Environmental experts, activists and various NGOs have protested the illegal coal mining, saying that the illegal activities continued with the active support of a section of most powerful politic while the law enforcing agencies remained silent.

To meet their election expenditure and to create their assets, a section of political leaders sponsors the coal mafia and coal traders of both northeast and outside the region to do the illegal trades and activities, destroying the environment and often killing poor people.

Rat-hole mining, an extremely unsafe practice in Meghalaya, Assam and other northeastern states, involves digging narrow tunnels, each of which fits only one person to enter and extract coal by poor and young people for their livelihood benefiting the coal traders.

The full bench of the Meghalaya High Court led by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee strongly criticised the state government on December 7, and said that despite several orders from the Supreme Court, High Court and the NGT, illegal mining of coal continues in the state, with possible 'state participation and even encouragement'.

Social activist Agnes Kharshiing, who has been at the forefront of exposing illegal coal mining activities in Meghalaya, said that a section of politic and lawmakers in Meghalaya are directly involved in the illegal coal mining despite the NGT banned the activities in April 2014.

Demanding a CBI probe in the illegal coal mining, Kharshiing told : "The activities have been going on openly for the past many years, the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and other agencies have remained blind to these serious matters."

"Those politic, officials and people who are involved in the illegal coal mining, they should be in jail. Occasionally, the police arrest some poor fellow."

Kharshiing, President of the Civil Society Women's Organisation, said that coal mafia and illegal drug traders were funding the expenditures of the political parties and that was why they were sponsoring such illegal activities.

"Illegally extracted coal is being exported to Bangladesh. Cement factories, brick kilns and many other factories are being operated through these coals. Pollution Control Boards and other authorities know everything but doing nothing," said the rights activist, who was brutally assaulted by the suspected coal mafia in East Jaintia Hills district for her activism in 2018.

She said that the government was also losing hundreds and thousands of crores of royalty due to the illegal coal mining.

Environment expert and Centre for Aquatic Research and Environment Secretary Apurba Kumar Dey said that the forest cover has been declining in all the eights states of northeastern region dur to various illegal activities, including coal mining, traditional "Jhum" farming

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