Five from Meghalaya held in Assam for illegal mining

Tinsukia (Assam), Nov 28 (PTI) At least five workers from Meghalaya were arrested for alleged rat-hole coal mining in Tinsukia district of Assam, officials said on Thursday.
    Lekhapani Forest Range Officer Parishmita Neog told PTI that a patrol team detected some people illegally loading coal in Tipong area on Wednesday.

    "We brought them to the office and they accepted their involvement in illegal rat-hole mining during interrogation. Accordingly, we arrested them under relevant sections of the law," she said.
    Rat-hole mining involves digging of narrow tunnels, usually 3-4 feet high, for workers to enter and extract coal. The horizontal tunnels are often termed “rat-holes”, as each just about fits one person.
    All the accused hail from Meghalaya and were caught red-handed during smuggling of coal in the Tipong Reserve Forest, Neog said.
    She said that further investigation is on to nab the coal traders, who brought these workers for the illegal act.
    "Earlier this year also, we arrested four individuals for their involvement in illegal coal mining in Paharpur area. In addition to the arrests, five excavators used in illegal mining were also seized," Neog said.

    The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had banned rat-hole mining in 2014. However, coal is still extracted by this dangerous method in the Northeast.
     "The coal mafias engage poor workers who go inside the rat-hole mine to procure coal. To earn some money, they risk their lives. Many times, these workers get trapped inside the mine for various reasons and die. Most of such instances go unreported," a social worker had said on condition of anonymity.
    "For many years, this process has been going on in the Margherita-Ledo area, which has now become a crime belt," he claimed.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)