The Meghalaya High Court committee has flagged that the state has failed to close rat-hole coal mines despite NGT’s 2014 ban. 45 deaths in East Jaintia Hills. Most districts haven’t submitted closure plans.
Rat-hole mining: narrow pits 100-300 ft deep. No support. No ventilation. Workers, often children, crawl in. It is illegal, dangerous, and the only livelihood for thousands.
Why does it continue? Because Coal India doesn’t operate in Meghalaya. Land is tribal-owned. The state never created alternative jobs. Local politicians and coal traders profit.
Analytically, this is governance failure. You cannot ban without rehabilitation. The state says "no funds". But it also never applied for DMFT funds or central schemes.
Solution needs 3 tracks:
1. Closure: Time-bound plan with GIS mapping of all 60,000 mines.
2. Rehabilitation: Skilling, MGNREGA, and alternative mining in safer zones.
3. Restoration: Use polluter-pays to fund land healing.Until then, the next monsoon will bury more workers.
"Illegal" is not a policy. It is an admission of failure.