Desiring black gold

• Rajib Barman, 39, chose to work as a rat-hole miner due to a debt of ₹60,000.

• He worked at the Kalamati mine in Umrangso, earning ₹90,000 per day.

• On January 6, 2025, Barman began mining at the mine, averaging ₹90-100 per kilogramme of coal extracted.

• After working in an awkward position, Barman was swept into the pit, where he and his three roommates couldn’t escape.

• Only four of the nine miners trapped inside have been recovered.

• The Indian Army, Navy, National Disaster Response Force, and State Disaster Response Force were involved in search and rescue operations.

• The Assam Cabinet approved a judicial inquiry and a Special Investigation Team to probe the incident.

• The government has also decided to frame a standard operating procedure to enforce a blanket ban on rat-hole mining in Assam.

Rat-Hole Coal Mining Disaster in Meghalaya

• Raju Basumatary, a rat-hole miner, has experienced two disasters in 26 years. The first occurred in Ksan, Meghalaya, on December 13, 2018.

• Basumatary, who came to Kalamati from Khliehriat four years ago, describes the dangers miners face in the dark depths of the earth.

• The mining period between November and March is crucial for the extraction of coal.

• During this period, workers drain the water that fills the mines, which are often interlinked beneath the ground due to rainfall and seepage from April to October.

• Joseph Soren, a miner, was the last of the 23 miners who helped those who couldn’t swim escape before the disaster struck on January 6.

• Soren, from western Assam’s Chirang district, has worked in half a dozen mines in the Umrangso area, of which Kalamati is a part, over as many seasons.

• Ganga Bahadur Shresth, 38, of Nepal’s Rampur village, was the first of the four bodies retrieved by rescue workers from the Kalamati mine.

• For Assam’s landless or marginal farmers, all roads lead to the mines when family expenditure exceeds income.

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) banning rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya on April 17, 2014, was upheld by the Supreme Court later, and the ban was extended to the other States in the Northeast.

Illegal Coal Mining in Meghalaya

• The Ksan incident in 2018 and Kalamati incident in 2022 show that the ban on illegal coal mining in Meghalaya has been largely on paper.

• The Justice (retired) B.P. Katakey-headed committee, appointed by the High Court of Meghalaya in April 2022, continues to receive complaints about illegal mining and transportation.

• Anti-mining activist Agnes Kharshiing argues that the illegal tag has only increased the price of coal and has not stopped mining.

• The tribal land ownership system in Meghalaya, a Sixth Schedule State, is often cited to justify rampant mining since the 1980s.

• Jagadish Bhuyan, a former minister, has filed Right to Information requests seeking details about rat-hole mining in Assam.

• The Assam Congress president, Bhupen Kumar Borah, believes illegal coal mining in Umrangso is just the tip of the ‘Syndicate Raj’ iceberg in the State.

• Debolal Gorlosa, the chief executive member of the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, is accused of buying overburden coal from the Assam Mineral Development Corporation Limited (AMDCL).

• The AMDCL has come under scrutiny for allegedly mining coal or residue, which is within the legal ambit.

• The AMDCL has been accused of reviving the corporation that once struggled to pay salaries to its employees and has helped increase the State’s revenue.

• Miners Basumatary and Ahmed worry that their incomes will drop due to the incident.