Three more workers succumbed to their injuries sustained in the February 5 blast at an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district, raising the overall toll to 30, The Times of India reported on Monday.
The explosion occurred at a mine in the Thangsko area of Mynsngat village on Thursday morning. The site of the explosion is located about 40 km from the district headquarters.
Two of the workers, Ramcharan Baisnab and Niman Uddin, both from Assam’s Cachar district, died while undergoing treatment in the Barak Valley. Another worker, Raju Tamang, was declared dead in Shillong.
On Monday, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that the Meghalaya government would constitute a judicial inquiry commission to investigate the incident.
Two persons have been arrested in the matter so far. They were identified as 36-year-old Forme Chyrmang and 42-year-old Shamehi War.
A suo motu first information report has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, read with the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act and the Explosive Substances Act.
The deputy commissioner and superintendent of police of East Jaintia Hills appeared before the Meghalaya High Court in connection with the explosion on Monday. A division bench comprising Justices Hamarsan Sing Thangkhiew and Wanlura Diengdoh, which took suo moto cognisance of the matter, had sought details of the action taken so far.
The incident has once again drawn attention to the persistence of rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya, despite a ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal in 2014.
The rathole technique entails digging small vertical pits to reach the mineral, often making it dangerous for miners.
While the tribunal permitted the transportation of coal mined before the ban until 2017, the Supreme Court later granted periodic extensions to the deadline.
However, critics believe that the concessions left the mining ban incomplete, allowing miners to illegally extract and ferry freshly mined coal under the guise of transporting old coal.
A 2022 report prepared by a court-appointed panel confirmed these concerns after it found that the state had overstated the quantity of coal extracted before the ban by 13 lakh metric tonnes.
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