THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 04, 2025
Tragedy After Tragedy
Published on Jan 21, 2025
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- Following a Cabinet meeting held in the aftermath of the tragic coal mine incident in the Umrangso area of Dima Hasao district earlier this month that killed several workers, the government of Assam has initiated a massive crackdown on illegal rat-hole coal mining in the state. More than a dozen rat-hole mines were said to have been sealed so far but it’s a long way to go before accomplishing the mission, as the area alone is home to at least 220 such illegal mines, according to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The fact that rat-hole mining continues unabated in the country, especially in the Northeast, despite the ban imposed by the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in view of the risk it poses to both human life and the environment, portrays the authorities in a bad light. Either the government officials are turning a blind eye to such activities or they are blind. There is a good reason to smell a rat. It raises doubts about the seriousness of the authorities in checking unregulated mining in the country and the possibility of such activities being carried out with the connivance of officials, as pointed out by the Supreme Court a few years ago. To effectively end illegal practices, investigations should be initiated to find out the possible official-trader nexus and penalise those involved. Arresting the workers can help curb such activities temporarily but not end them, for the simple reason that the poor and impoverished will return to the deadly rat holes to earn a living as long as unscrupulous elements are allowed to operate illegal mining.
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- Repeated recurrence of rat-hole mining-related tragic incidents in the Northeast region smacks of indifference, corruption and a lack of political will to implement the ban on illegal mining. Several lives were lost in Meghalaya in 2018 and 2021 after miners were trapped. A similar incident took place in Ruchanyan village of Wokha district in Nagaland earlier last year and now in Assam. Sadly, this may not be the last. In the absence of stringent measures to stop the dangerous practice of extracting coal by manually digging narrow holes, people will burrow at different locations until struck by another tragedy. To avoid fatal mishaps, the central and state governments should not repeat the mistake of focusing on treating the symptom and not the cause. The government can also explore avenues to provide alternate sources of income for the people, as there is an economic aspect to engaging in illegal mining.
Nagaland Districts
