Meghalaya police nabs 9 mine workers, 55 MT coal seized

Nine mine workers were arrested by Meghalaya police from an illegal coal mine at Umthe area in East Jaintia Hills district, even an approximately of 55 metric tonnes of illegally extracted coal from the site was seized from the site in the presence of an Executive Magistrate, following due legal procedures, officials said on Friday.
Acting on specific intelligence gathered through drone surveillance, a police team conducted a mine raid on Thursday, leading to the detection of the illegal operation running in violation of existing environmental and mining regulations.
“The raid was conducted on Thursday in compliance with the ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal on illegal coal mining and transportation, and in accordance with directions issued by the Meghalaya High Court for strict enforcement against unlawful mining in the state, Pankaj Rasgania, the district police chief of East Jaintia Hills, said.
He said the raid was conducted following an aerial drone survey detected the coal mine in Umthe area under Umpleng Police Outpost.
“Nine mine workers were found engaged in illegal mining activities at the site,” Rasgania said, adding that the mine workers were arrested and taken into custody for necessary legal action under relevant provisions of law. An FIR has been registered, and further investigation is underway to identify those responsible for financing and operating the illegal mine, the police official said.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya police reiterated their commitment to stringent enforcement measures, asserting zero tolerance towards any form of illegal mining in the district. The police crackdown at Umthe area after the Meghalaya High Court took cognisance of the illegal coal mining activities in East Jaintia Hills district due to repeated instances of unlawful coal extraction despite the continuing ban.
A division bench of the Meghalaya High Court had recently ordered the State government to act against NGOs and officials who are part of the whole chain in illegal mining and transportation of coal in the State.
“What is deemed necessary by this Court is also the examination of the manner of the transport of illegally extracted coal and the role of transport officials, police, non-State players, such as NGOs, which is part of the whole chain in the facilitation of illegal mining operations,” a division bench of Justice Hamarsan Singh Thangkhiew and Wanlura Diengdoh said. Notably, a total of 33 people died following a deadly explosion that occurred on February 5 at an illegal coal mining site in the Mynsngat–Thangsko area of East Jaintia Hills District. A suo-motu FIR has been registered in connection with the incident at Khliehriat Police Station, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the DIG (Eastern Range) has been constituted to investigate the case.
Seven persons have been arrested so far in connection with the blast.
The state government has also constituted a judicial commission of inquiry to probe the incident and its wider implications.
The commission is being headed by Justice (Retd.) R. S. Chauhan, former Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand and Telangana High Courts, with former IPS officer H. Nongpluh and former IAS officer Peter Dkhar as members. The commission has been given six months to submit its report.