Meghalaya Miners

As the Meghalaya High Court pulled up the state government over the disappearance of over 4,000 tonnes of coal, a minister on Monday claimed that heavy rain in the state might have washed it away. The high court has directed the state government to take action against officials under whose watch the coal went missing. Speaking to reporters, Excise Minister Kyrmen Shylla said, "Meghalaya receives the highest rainfall. You never know... because of rain, the coal might have swept away. Chances are very high." The high court had on July 25 pulled up the state government over the vanishing of coal from Rajaju and Diengngan villages and instructed it to trace those responsible for lifting the coal illegally. The minister, however, clarified that he was not trying to justify the disappearance, and admitted there was no conclusive evidence yet to determine whether the loss was due to natural causes or any illegal activity. "I cannot blame just the rain. It could be or it could not be. I .

The Meghalaya HC noted that the missing stock of 4,000 MT coal had earlier been surveyed and recorded, yet 'unidentified persons' managed to lift and move it, exposing failures in ground-level enforce

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said eleven more miners are all set to get the mining opening permission for starting scientific mining of coal in the state soon. As of now three miners have started extracting coal using scientific mining methods as prescribed by the Central authorities and they are dealing with issues of safe transportation, he said on Tuesday. "Mining of coal by three (3) miners in the state has started in a scientific manner after the Coal Ministry was satisfied with the work of extracting coal," said Sangma. Sangma said that as per the latest information, 11 more miners are awaiting permission from the Ministry to extract coal in the state. "I don't have the exact number but in 1-2 months, another 10-11 miners mostly from East Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills will be getting the permission to extract coal in a scientific manner," he said. On March 17, 2025, after more than decades, mining in Meghalaya was re-opened in East Jaintia Hills. The chief

Five of the deceased have been identified, the official said, adding, most of them are from neighbouring Assam.

Several anti-mining and pro-environment groups have expressed strong opposition against the expansion of the mining project

Nearly 200 rescue personnel from the NDRF, the Indian Navy, Odisha Fire Service and state agencies are involved in the search-and-rescue operation

Labourers have been trapped deep inside a rathole coal mine for more than a month. The state has been caught in a resource curse for decades.

The court is hearing a public interest litigation filed by Prasad, who sought urgent steps to rescue the 15 miners trapped in the mine since December 13

The state government has given the order of suspending the operation to pull out the body of the miner as it is becoming an impossible task, says Meghalaya CM

On December 13, water from nearby Lytein River flooded a network of tunnels in the 370-foot-deep coal mine in Lumthari village of East Jaintia Hills, trapping 15 men

The bench issued notice to the Meghalaya Government, the Centre and others seeking their response on various issues connected with coal mining in the state and posted the matter for hearing Feb 19

Around 77,081 cases of illegal mining reported in April- December 2017

The National Green Tribunal has imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore on the Meghalaya government for its failure to curb illegal mining in the state

The state government has spent roughly over Rs 50 lakh for hiring various utilities to rescue the trapped miners

The court said the report should be filed on January 7

The 15 miners trapped in the illegal shaft in the East Jaintia Hills sadly attest to the fact that little has changed on the ground

The government told the apex court that the illegal mine was located near a river and seepage of water was hindering the rescue operation

At the outset, the bench expressed dissatisfaction over the steps taken so far and asked the Meghalaya government as to why it was not successful in rescuing these people

We are not satisfied. It is a question of life and death, said the SC bench

Families of trapped miners in Meghalaya have lost all their hope and have requested the government to retrieve the bodies for last rites