Shillong, Mar 3: Justice (Retd) BP Katakey, head of the single-member committee constituted by the Meghalaya High Court, has said serious accidents in all coal producing districts of the State will occur until the government takes steps to stop the illegalities.
The committee, in its 36th interim report said, “The possibility of occurrence of serious accidents in all the coal producing districts, cannot at all be ruled out, unless the administration is serious about stopping the illegal coal mining activities and all necessary steps in that regard are taken.
The report, which was submitted to the court soon after the February 5 deadly explosion at Thangsko area, East Jaintia Hills has pictures of thriving illegal coal mining activities attached.
Katakey said there is a large quantity of freshly mined coal on the way to the accident site at Mynsyngat-Thangsko area and also a large number of active coal mines, apart from the tools and machineries. This reflects the non-seriousness of the administration to stop the illegal coal mining activities, he added.
Katakey also stated in the report that no steps, including setting up of the checkpoints, as discussed during the physical meeting the committee had on January 16, 2026 in Shillong, appear to have taken to stop the detection of illegal mining activities including transportation.
He also observed that the district administration is also found to be negligent in taking steps to stop the illegal coal mining activities in the district as during his visit the next day after the incident active coal mines, which are hardly 10-12 kilometres away from district headquarter, Khliehriat were found.
The committee also observed that it does not find any reason for not noticing the continued illegal coal mining activities in the entire stretch from Mopala village to the accident site at Mynsyngat-Thangsko area, by the district administration.
“The area is not at all totally inaccessible, as sought to be projected,” the report stated.
According to the Report the administration, as it appears, waited till the occurrence of the disaster for taking some action.
The Report also observed that the presence of active coal mines in the entire stretch from Mopala to the accident site at Mynsyngat-Thangsko area coupled with recovery of a large number of detonators in Cement Bazar under Umpleng Police Out Post, make the entire area vulnerable for more such accident that has happened at Mynsyngat-Thangsko area.
The report stated that the use of explosive substances for extracting coal from coal mine pits in the Mynsyngat-Thangsko area had been noticed, as well as detection of explosive substances near the illegal coal mine pits in Rangad village in East Jaintia Hills District.
According to the report the names and full addresses of all the persons injured or died in the mining accident that occurred in Mynsyngat-Thangsko area need to be published for information of the general public, which has not been done so far.
