Source: TH
Context: Recently, the tragic loss of lives in a flooded rat-hole coal mine in Assam’s Dima Hasao district reignited the debate on the persistence of illegal mining and its consequences.
About Rat-hole Mining:
- What it is: Rat-hole mining involves digging narrow tunnels, barely large enough for workers to crawl in, to extract coal seams. It is of two types:
- Side-cutting mining on hill slopes to follow visible coal seams.
- Box-cutting mining where deep pits are dug, and horizontal tunnels are made.
- Why it persists in India:
- Economic Incentives: Workers earn significantly more compared to farm or construction work.
- Local Control: In Sixth Schedule areas like Meghalaya, landowners also own the minerals, making regulation challenging.
- Lack of Modern Techniques: High costs and terrain complexities discourage mechanized mining.
- Poor Governance: Weak enforcement and alleged official complicity allow illegal mining to flourish.
- NGT Ban: Imposed in 2014 to prevent environmental degradation and protect lives.
- Why Northeast India has more rat-hole coal mines:
- Sixth Schedule Land Rights: In states like Meghalaya, tribal communities own land and minerals, making it difficult for government regulations to enforce mining standards effectively.
- Thin Coal Seams: The coal deposits in Northeast India are narrow and shallow, making large-scale mechanized mining economically unviable and favoring primitive rat-hole techniques.
- Challenging Terrain: The hilly and rugged topography of the region restricts the use of modern mining machinery, leading to reliance on manual methods like rat-hole mining.
- High Demand and Local Economy: Rat-hole mining provides quick profits and employment for local communities, driven by demand from nearby industries like cement and thermal power plants.
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