Shillong, Sept 3: Meghalaya’s war on illegal coal mining is all seizure, no punishment.
The explosive 40th Interim Report reveals that between 2023 and 2026, police booked 64 cases for illegal transport and 127 for illegal extraction and seized 62 vehicles and 92 heavy machines. But when it came to confiscation under MMDR Act, the state moved in just one single case in East Jaintia Hills. In four years, only six mine owners and one landowner faced action, while notices sent to village headmen to name landowners have gone unanswered.
Six months after 34 workers were buried alive in the Mynsngat-Thangsko illegal rat-hole at East Jaintia Hills, the probe is still incomplete. Post-mortem reports of all 34 victims are yet to be collected. Only 15 reports came from West Jaintia Hills on May 21, one from Ri-Bhoi is still missing, though three charge-sheets were hurriedly filed on Feb 18, Feb 24 and May 6 in Khliehriat PS Case No.14/2026.
The midnight crash at Mawiong near Mecofed on Aug 24 has now exposed the auction coal alibi. Truck AS-01-AC-8401, loaded with coal and heading from Nongstoin to Guwahati, overturned at 3.30 am. Its manager flashed photocopies claiming it was carrying 8,338 MT of auctioned coal from Shalang Kyllonmathei and was a replacement for ML-05-AE-1674. Verification showed no Mineral Transport Challan was ever issued for AS-01-AC-8401 by the Directorate of Mineral Resources, no original papers, no breakdown proof. The Committee suspects illegally mined coal being laundered as auction coal and has ordered a full inquiry within 15 days.
On enforcement, the Mining and Geology Department on July 22 finally cleared a 24×7 smart check-gate at Mendipathar to plug the illegal corridor, with a status report sought in 15 days. The panel also slammed the Transport Department for sitting on the proposal to merge its Dainadubi gate with the integrated smart gate standing metres away, and sought urgent reports on new smart gates planned at Nongalbibra-Mendipathar Railway, Rongjeng-Dainadubi, Nongalbibra-Goalpara, Athiabari and near Mendipathar Railway Station
