Fifteen miners trapped in an illegal Meghalaya coalmine since December 13 last year could help nameless victims of past accidents get compensation.
Prodded by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Meghalaya government on Thursday issued a public notice seeking the names of miners injured as well as the next of kin of miners killed in accidents since 2012.
In July that year, 15 miners were trapped in a flooded mine at Rongsa Awe in Meghalaya’s South Garo Hills, similar to the one that happened at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills 30 days ago. The bodies of those miners were never found.
The NGT’s notice was drawn to the Rongsa Awe accident. It banned rat-hole mining in Meghalaya two years later, in April 2014.
“The notice is with retrospective effect from 2012. We have asked miners who received injuries during coal mining activities and the next of kin of miners who died in such mining activities to submit their claims for compensation and rehabilitation,” Meghalaya’s Additional Chief Secretary P.W. Ingty told The Hindu .
The notice issued by the State’s Forests and Environment Department was in view of the NGT’s order on August 31 last year constituting a committee headed by retired judge B.P. Katakey to take stock of all actions taken for restoration of environment and rehabilitation of victims of coal mining in Meghalaya.
The NGT order, related to the 2012 case, had sought a time-bound action plan for setting things in order and its implementation.
The survivors of coal mining victims have been asked to – within a month of publication of the notice – submit details of incident resulting in injury or death along with supporting documents to the Commissioner and Secretary of Meghalaya’s Mining and Geology Department.
Meanwhile, rescue personnel continued pumping out water from the Ksan mine where the 15 miners have been trapped since December 13. Adjoining abandoned mines, interconnected underneath, were being dewatered too.
Though the East Jaintia Hills district authorities issued a list of 15 miners trapped in the rat-hole mine 380 ft deep, one of the survivors – Saheb Ali – claimed there were two more. “The khatamaster (record-keeper), who also survived that day, showed me 22 names on his register. Five of us survived, so that leaves 17,” he said.
