Source:

https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/op-ed-snap-a-tragedy-that-was-long-in-the-making/

 

Model Answer:

• Mining is illegal when there is absence of land rights, mining license, exploration or mineral transportation permit or of any document that could legitimate the on-going operations.
• The illegal mining issue has been in highlight due to recent incidents of Meghalaya Coal Mine where at least 13 workers had been trapped inside of rat hole mining due to sudden filling of water.
• The mines in Meghalaya, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh (most probably the rat hole mines) was allowed to function in violation of not just safety norms but instead of complete prohibition issued by the National Green Tribunal.

The administrative failures:

• The first question strike in our mind is that why there is illegal mining flourishing even when NGT banned it? This shows the failure of monitoring and executive mechanisms of administration towards effective and efficient regulation of mining business.
• The administration did not act to stop unscrupulous operators of the illegal mine from exploiting desperate workers, some of them from Assam, who were willing to work in the rat hole tunnels because that is the most remunerative employment available to them.
• Even in approved mines, there is a serious shortcoming in safety management. For example: a landslip at an open cast mine in Godda, Jharkhand, killed 23 people, raising questions about the rigour of the technical assessment done prior to expansion of extraction activity.
• Also, there is failure in implementing safety protocols even when pre-mining surveys on safety were done. Unscientific mining resulted in collapsing of the chambers followed by deadly flooding after disaster.
• The government of Meghalaya failed to launch an immediate rescue effort. There is no equipment available with the authority to dewater the stricken mine quickly nor there were any other evacuation plan. The authority did not show any urgency in requisitioning it from elsewhere.
• The assumption of Meghalaya government on the very day of tragedy that the workers/miners to be dead were unfortunate in-spite of rescuing them immediately. The assumption was evident in the letter written to the National Disaster Response Force.
• There was no single person or agency to coordinate the rescue mission. There was no hydrologist to scientifically map out the area from where water entered the mine. The remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) from Planys in Chennai came three weeks later and so did the geologists from Hyderabad.

Other prominent issues:

• The other troubling factor is that coal mine owners are insisting that since Meghalaya is a State under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, national mining laws should be exempted here.
• The Sixth Schedule was enacted to protect the community rights of tribals from any form of exploitation of their land and resources.
• It cannot be used as an instrument to protect an activity that is a private enterprise and inhuman. It also violates Article 21 of the Constitution.
• Therefore, it seems that the Sixth Schedule is unable to protect the forests and rivers that are common property resources.
• Acid mine drainage has rendered even agricultural land non-productive. Mine owners do not care about environmental degradation.
• There is complete disregard for corporate social responsibility by coal mine owners because the mines are privately owned by the tribals.
• They have left thousands of abandoned mines as human graves.
• The State also does not insist that they reclaim and afforest those mines.
• In 40 years of mining and profiteering, the mine owners have till date not constructed a single hospital or even a school.

Way forward:

• First of all, there should be developed a mechanism in which coal can be extracted even when it is present at shallow depth. Mining business should be allowed as well as regulated after much assessment has been done from all aspects. For example: GIS mapping of region for surveillance operation.
• Secondly, effective monitoring mechanism should be put in place to gather data on mining operation including strict implementation of laws and regulation related to mines and minerals regulation Act 2016.
• State of the art tools should be provided to the miners with approved mining. The process of mining should be legitimized with much assessments and surveys so that there should not exist illegal activities related to mining business.