Environment

The Meghalaya high court on Monday directed that the state government to set up a committee “without any political interference “to implement the ban on rat-hole coal mining put in place by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Supreme Court

·        The Jaintia Coal Miners and the Dealers’ Association claims there are some 60,000 coal mines across the 360 villages in East Jaintia Hills district.

·        Moolamylliang used to be the one such village till the National green tribunal banned rat-hole mining in April 2014.

·        Although the NGT ban did not stop illegal mining within the district, it helped Moolamylliang reform — in part because unregulated mining had contaminated its farmlands and turned the streams acidic, and also because the village dorbar, or traditional governing body, had a exchange of guard.

·        The Rat Hole Mining involves digging of very little tunnels, typically only 3-4 feet high, which employees (often children) enter and extract coal.

·        The National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned it in 2014, on grounds of it being unscientific and unsafe for workers.

·        The state (Meghalayan) government has challenged the NGT ban in the Supreme Court.

·        According to available government information, Meghalaya has a total coal reserve of 640 million tonnes, most of which is deep-mined unscientifically by individuals and communities.

·        Since the coal seam is extremely thin in Meghalaya, no other method would be economically viable.

·        In 2018, a minimum of 15 employees died after they were trapped in one such mine in East Jainitia Hills.

·        Impacts The water sources of many rivers, especially in Jaintia Hills district, have turned acidic.

·        The water also has high concentration of sulphates, iron and the toxic heavy metals, low dissolved oxygen (DO) and high BOD, showing its degraded quality.

·        The roadside dumping of coal is a major source of air, water and soil pollution.

·        Off road movement of trucks and other vehicles within the area for coal transportation also adds to the ecological and environmental harm the area.

·        The practice has been declared as unsafe for workers by the NGT.

The mines branch into networks of horizontal channels, which are at constant risk of caving in or flooding.