The High Court of Meghalaya established a commission to investigate serious claims of widespread illicit coal mining in the state, led by retired Justice BP Katakey. The unscientific and unlawful rat-hole mining operations in Dobakol Nongalbibra in South Garo Hills and Goreng in West Khasi Hills were the subject of multiple petitions submitted to the one-member committee. The complaints have been received, Katakey confirmed, and the relevant departments will be instructed to carry out the necessary investigations and report the results.
The prospect of include non-governmental organizations in the inspection process is still open, and the committee is also thinking about physically inspecting the areas where illicit mining has been reported. The committee has lately received four more complaints and has already responded to three petitions. Among the prominent petitioners is Mingran T. Sangma, a social activist who alleges that unlawful rat-hole mining is being conducted openly at Dobakol Nongalbibra under the district government’s nose.
According to Krishan Kumar, there was illicit mining at Goreng, and two people were using fictitious invoices to export coal to Bangladesh. Before being exported from the Gasuapara Land Custom Station, Kumar says, this illegally mined coal is stocked at a coal stockyard in the South Garo Hills district’s Rongsa Awe. It is falsely declared to be of Nagaland origin. By the end of the month, he will visit Shillong to meet with the appropriate departments and find out how the numerous instructions that the committee just issued are progressing.
