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Economy
Mahesh

23/08/22 05:05 AM IST

Coal Mining

In News 
  • One person lost his life, while another was injured  in an alleged case of illegal coal mining in a remote area of West Khasi Hills (WKH) district of Meghalaya.
Rat-hole Mining 
  • Rat-hole mining is a dangerous technique involving digging narrow vertical tunnels into the earth to extract coal. Since most of these tunnels are dug without following guidelines, they pose threat to workers.
  • Rat-hole mining is common in Meghalaya due to the thinness of coal found.
  • NGT had banned Rat-hole mining in 2014, but SC (2019) had over-ruled that mining done under proper rules and provisions of the Mines and Mineral Act will be legal.
  • Rat hole mining involves digging of very small tunnels, usually only 3-4 feet high, which workers (often children) enter and extract coal.
  • The National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned it in 2014, on grounds of it being unscientific and unsafe for workers. The state (Meghalayan) government has challenged the NGT ban in the Supreme Court.
  • According to available government data, Meghalaya has a total coal reserve of 640 million tonnes, most of which is mined unscientifically by individuals and communities.
  • Since the coal seam is extremely thin in Meghalaya, no other method would be economically viable. Removal of rocks from the hilly terrain and putting up pillars inside the mine to prevent collapse would be costlier. In Meghalaya this is the locally developed technique and the most commonly used one.
Impact 
  • The water sources of many rivers, especially in Jaintia Hills district, have turned acidic.
  • The water also has high concentration of sulphates, iron and toxic heavy metals, low dissolved oxygen (DO) and high BOD, showing its degraded quality.
  • The roadside dumping of coal is a major source of air, water and soil pollution.
  • Off road movement of trucks and other vehicles in the area for coal transportation also adds to the ecological and environmental damage of the area.
  • The practice has been declared as unsafe for workers by the NGT.
  • The mines branch into networks of horizontal channels, which are at constant risk of caving in or flooding.
Source- Hindustan Times 

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