“Immediate and Effective action was needed” – SC on Meghalaya Tragedy

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Meghalaya mine tragedy states that “a prompt, immediate and effective” operation was needed as this was the matter of life, “every minute counts” for those who are trapped in the coal mines from the last 3 weeks.

A bench of two justices, A K Sikri and Abdul Nazeer, asked the Centre to submit a report after noting that the miners are still trapped.

The bench said, “We do not know whether they are dead or alive. We only pray to God that all are alive, it is not a question of day or hours, every minute is precious. No matter whether they are all dead, not dead or all are alive, they should be taken out”.

Justice A K Sikri, asked Meghalaya Government that why it is failed so far to requisition the services of the army.

Meghalaya government informed the court that National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Coal India and navy was working to rescue the miners. But the bench was not satisfied with the reply and asked to submit a report from the Centre.

Just after the SC orders, The National Green Tribunal (NGT) fined Meghalaya Government for Rs 100 Crore for being unable to curb the illegal coal mining sites.

As per the reports, there are 24,000 coal mining sites in Meghalaya, and majority of them are operating illegally. There is no environmental clearance to operate the mines.