GUWAHATI

A one-member judicial committee appointed by the High Court of Meghalaya has given the State government 15 days to address the “faceless” nature of illegal coal mining and transportation in the State.

In its 38th interim report submitted to the High Court on June 17, the Justice (retired) B.P. Katakey committee directed the State government to frame, within a fortnight, a comprehensive action plan that includes measures to hold officials accountable for allowing illegal coal mining and transportation under their watch.

The panel, constituted in April 2022, was mandated to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court’s and the National Green Tribunal’s ban on hazardous “rat-hole” coal mining and to check the illegal transportation of coal in Meghalaya.

“Framing of a comprehensive action plan by the State Govt. for the entire State of Meghalaya, within a period of 15 (fifteen) days, to stop illegal coal mining activities including transportation, which is of utmost necessity,” the committee’s report said.

The directive followed a review of action plans submitted by the North Garo Hills, East Garo Hills, and South Garo Hills districts. The committee noted that these districts had established task forces and conducted joint checking operations, but their plans lacked a critical component: official accountability.

Observing that the illegal coal trade in Meghalaya had become “faceless”, the Katakey committee noted that authorities had struggled to identify the principal operators behind the illegal extraction and transportation of coal despite large-scale seizures and the existence of unmonitored open pits.

The panel proposed a State-wide enforcement plan to identify vulnerable areas, establish dedicated enforcement units headed by responsible officers, and assess manpower requirements. It also recommended the setting up of check-gates and police outposts along high-risk transit routes.

The committee acknowledged that while some districts were coal mining hubs and others functioned primarily as transit routes, the “ground realities cannot be used as an excuse to bypass” a unified enforcement framework.

The National Green Tribunal banned rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya in April 2014 following reports that children were employed to extract coal from narrow tunnels that an average-height adult has to crawl through. The Supreme Court subsequently upheld the ban.