By David Laitphlang
Shillong, Aug 2: Meghalaya’s coal controversy has taken a new turn—both in gravity and irony.
Days after Excise Minister Kyrmen Shylla floated the possibility that over 4,000 metric tons of coal may have been “washed away” due to heavy rainfall, the state government has ordered an official probe into the mysterious disappearance of the massive stockpile from Rajaju and Diengngan villages in East Jaiñtia Hills.
But there’s a catch—Meghalaya is currently recording the highest rainfall deficit in India, clocking a staggering 56% shortfall this monsoon.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, who holds the Home (Police) portfolio, confirmed that the district administration has been tasked with verifying the facts and submitting a report that will also be forwarded to the Government of India.
“We’ve already asked the concerned district administration to find out the truth. Let that report come,” Tynsong told reporters earlier this week, choosing to sidestep Shylla’s rain-based justification entirely.
The probe follows a strong directive from the Meghalaya High Court, which took note of the 31st interim report submitted by Justice (Retd) B.P. Katakey, appointed to oversee compliance with mining guidelines. The court ordered the government to identify and act against those under whose watch the coal vanished, and to trace anyone who may have illegally transported or lifted it.
The missing coal has once again revived allegations of illegal mining and unchecked transport, issues that Meghalaya has struggled to rein in despite years of court orders, regulatory directives, and public outcry.
Tynsong was quick to assert that the government welcomes any investigation, be it by central agencies or even the Supreme Court. “If there is any illegality in coal mining, trading, or movement, the law will take its course,” he said. All district administrations and police units have been instructed to remain vigilant.
Minister Shylla’s suggestion that the state’s record rainfall could have carried away the coal has raised more than just eyebrows. It now stands starkly at odds with the actual weather data: Meghalaya—long dubbed the “Abode of Clouds”—has recorded a 56% monsoon deficit, the worst in the country this year.
Between June 1 and July 28, Meghalaya received only 690.7 mm of rain against a normal of 1,555.4 mm, as reported by the India Meteorological Department.
Even Jharkhand, often considered drier, saw a 53% surplus in the same period.
In East Khasi Hills, home to the famously wet towns of Mawsynram and Cherrapunji, the deficit touched 57%. The contrast is striking: In the year coal is said to have been “washed away,” the rains themselves have mostly stayed away.
Environmentalists and political observers have been quick to note the contradiction. “If anything, the severe rainfall deficit this year makes such a claim scientifically implausible,” said a senior environmental researcher from NEHU, not wishing to be named.
“The coal didn’t just melt into thin air. Someone has to be held accountable,” said a local RTI activist who has tracked coal transport anomalies in East Jaiñtia Hills since 2019.
Minister Shylla had also expressed confidence that the Chief Minister’s scientific mining initiative would reduce illegal activity. “I believe our people will not do such kind of illegalities… especially with the announcement of scientific mining,” he had said.
However, the reality on the ground remains murky. Reports of unregulated movement of coal, hidden stocks, and collusion at the district level continue to surface, despite repeated government assurances.
The High Court’s directives, followed by this latest administrative probe, are being seen as another opportunity for the government to come clean—or risk being seen as complicit.
With public trust shaken, and the judiciary keeping a close watch, the onus now rests heavily on the state to deliver credible findings from its investigation.
The irony of invoking rain in the driest monsoon Meghalaya has seen in recent memory may have offered temporary political cover—but the facts, and now the numbers, are piling up against that narrative.
What’s missing is not just coal. It’s also clarity, accountability, and political will.
