Meghalaya police told to hunt down financiers of illegal coal trade

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Updated - June 21, 2026 03:47 pm IST - GUWAHATI Search and rescue operation underway after an explosion in an illegal coal mining site. | Photo Credit: PTI The police in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district, the hub of rat-hole coal mining, have been told to go beyond the labourers to hunt down financiers and owners of the illegal coal trade. The crackdown followed widespread criticisms of the Conrad K. Sangma-led State Government for “enabling” the illegal operations and a directive from the High Court of Meghalaya seeking “immediate, effective, and stringent action” against those involved in a series of mining accidents, including the February 5 dynamite blast, in an illegally operated mine that has so far claimed 27 lives. East Jaintia Hills District Magistrate Manish Kumar, invoking Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, imposed a total ban on the assembly of five or more people around illegal mining sites in the Thangsko area. His order, seen as an admission of a lapse in ground-level intelligence, said there was evidence of continued illegal extraction from social media inputs and local complaints. It tasked the magistrates with “identifying” the mine owners and financiers, believed to wield immense political clout. The district administration, noting the possibility of local groups or individuals trying to obstruct law enforcement, dismantle machinery, or destroy makeshift camps of miners to hide evidence, authorised the magistrates to seize all vehicles, tools, and equipment used in the mining operations and initiate proceedings under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. Also Read | Distressing regularity: On Meghalaya’s rat-hole mines Since February 6, five teams comprising executive magistrates, police personnel, and officials from the Directorate of Mineral Resources have seized 6,904 metric tonnes of coal from various locations around the fatal mine, along with tools and equipment used by miners. Vikash Kumar, the district’s Superintendent of Police, said the seizure of 63 detonators from individuals from Assam and Tripura underlined a “well-established supply chain” feeding the illegal mining industry. “We are dismantling all labour camps in the area and asking the people to leave. There will be no scope for illegal mining anymore,” he said. Panel sets deadline for Meghalaya govt. to stop ‘faceless’ illegal coal trade Meanwhile, the operations to rescue any survivors among the trapped miners or retrieve their bodies continue. Nine miners undergoing treatment for burn injuries in a hospital in Shillong, about 115 km from the blast site, remain in a serious condition. Published - February 08, 2026 03:41 pm IST crime, law and justice / crime / mining / Meghalaya / India / India Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Meghalaya police told to hunt down financiers of illegal coal trade

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Meghalaya police told to hunt down financiers of illegal coal trade

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