1,200 illegal mining cases to be probed

Amonth after 15 miners were trapped in a coal mine — with a search operation for them still ongoing — a threemember committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Meghalaya Police to investigate nearly 1,200 cases of illegal quarrying across the state.

The NGT had imposed a blanket ban on coal mining and transportation in Meghalaya in 2014, citing unscientific methods and absence of safety measures.

The three-member NGT committee, constituted in August last year, is currently studying the environmental aspects of “rat-hole mining” in the state.