A Tragedy That Was Long in the Making Illegal RatHole Mining in Meghalaya Persists Despite Ruinous Eff Ects on the Environment
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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE DELHI THE HINDU 10 EDITORIAL FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2019 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE A tragedy that was long in the making Illegal rathole mining in Meghalaya persists despite ruinous effects on the environment possible to put things together to protect the community rights of Familial face assist the rescue mission. But des tribals from any form of exploita pite his initiative, things were de tion of their land and resources. Priyanka Gandhi can be a star campaigner, but layed. The distance of the mine, How can it now be used as an in the Congress still needs to flesh out its vision for one, was a major hindrance. strument to protect an activity Then there are other issues that that is a private enterprise, that is n appointing his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as a P atricia Mukhim need to be highlighted. The inhuman, and that violates Article general secretary of the party, Congress president trapped miners were being racial 21 of the Constitution? Why is the IRahul Gandhi probably calculated that the benefits he efforts to reach the 15 ly profiled in the minds of the peo Sixth Schedule unable to protect outweighed the risks. While the BJP lost no time in de miners trapped in an illegal ple and the state. Of the 15 miners, the forests and rivers that are com crying the move as another instance of dynastic polit Tcoal mine in the East Jaintia only three were locals from the mon property resources? Acid ics, the highstakes manoeuvre could lift the profile of hills of Meghalaya since December nearby village of Lumthari. The mine drainage has rendered even the Congress as a serious contender in the general elec 13 continue, but they began belat rest were Muslims from Garo Hills, agricultural land nonproductive. tion. In Uttar Pradesh, where it has been left high and edly and have faced many Meghalaya, and Bodoland, Assam. Mine owners do not care about en problems. Their socioeconomic profile also PTI vironmental degradation. dry in the seatsharing deal between the Samajwadi worked against them. They were Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, it sorely needs a Doomed from the beginning the poorest of the poor who took a ing of coal. One, why does the that coal mining provides liveli Abandoning responsibility dramatic turnaround in political fortunes. While her First, the Meghalaya government huge risk to enter a mine and dig state allow this archaic mining sys hoods for many, but at what cost? The cement giant, Lafarge, mines formal induction into politics may have been prompted has no idea what happens inside for coal without any safety gear. tem, which has complete disre limestone from Meghalaya’s East by a number of factors, including the illhealth of her these rathole mines, which are When a mine is flooded, the im gard for human life and safety? The fault-lines Khasi Hills district and transports mother, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the barely 2 ft wide, since mining is a mediate response, apart from And two, why is Meghalaya ex The tribes of Meghalaya are divid it to Chhatak in Bangladesh via charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh was surely meant as a private activity. Despite the Na pumping out the water, is to stop empted from national mining ed on the issue of rathole mining. conveyor belts. The Supreme tional Green Tribunal ban of April further flow of water into it. This laws? Rathole mining, which The faultlines are clear. Those Court placed a heavy penalty on signal to the SP and the BSP. Although her only previous 2014, mining continues in the requires a hydrologist to scientifi started with gusto in the 1980s, who care for the environment and Lafarge and asked it to strictly im formal role in politics was as the party’s campaign man State. Second, it was unfortunate cally map out the area from where has poisoned three rivers in the for a future for their children and plement environmental laws apart ager in Amethi and Rae Bareli, constituencies of her that the district administration as water entered the mine. Sudhir Jaintia hills: the Myntdu, Lunar grandchildren have been clamour from generating livelihoods for pe brother and mother, Ms. Vadra is high on charisma qu sumed the miners to be dead on Kumar, a hydrologist from the Na and Lukha. Scientists from the ing for an end to the practice of ople residing within 50 km of the otient, that intangible but nonetheless real quality that the very day of the tragedy. This tional Institute of Hydrology, Roor NorthEastern Hill University have rathole mining and reckless lim mining areas. In the case of coal saw crowds gather in the party’s pocket boroughs. The assumption was evident in the let kee, arrived only two weeks after found that these rivers have very estone mining. On the other hand, mine owners, there are no such NehruGandhi lineage aside, Ms. Vadra commands a ter written to the National Disaster the disaster. So did the divers from high acidic levels. Reports from the mining elite have mobilised strictures. They have left thou Response Force. It was only after a the Indian Navy and the 100 HP other agencies suggest that pH of forces to demonise environmental sands of abandoned mines as hu stage presence, helped no doubt by a resemblance to Delhibased lawyer, Aditya N. Pra water pumps from Kirloskar the water and sulphate and iron activists. A community of just over man graves. The State does not in her grandmother Indira Gandhi. Whether she will take sad, represented by senior Su Brothers. The remotely operated concentrations indicate significant a million is now fragmented. To sist that they reclaim and afforest her mother’s place in Rae Bareli is not clear as yet, but preme Court advocate Anand underwater vehicle (ROV) from deterioration of the rivers. Acid add to these woes, cement compa those mines. In 40 years of mining this is a suggestion that there could be a longterm role. Grover and his team of human Planys in Chennai came three mine drainage from abandoned nies also release their effluents in and profiteering, the mine owners In many ways, the nomination is an admission of the rights lawyers presented their sug weeks later. So did the geologists mines was a major cause for water to the rivers. So we now have a have till date not constructed a sin party’s overreliance on the family, but to the credit of gestions to the court that the from Hyderabad. All these delays pollution in the areas investigated, deadly cocktail of pollutants being gle hospital or even a school. Mr. Gandhi, he has been engaging in wider consulta Meghalaya government got diffe happened because there was no the reports added. released into the environment. There is complete disregard for rent actors to the accident site. Mr. one person or agency to coordi The coal mine owners have The scale of the problem is clear in corporate social responsibility be tions within the party on important decisions. The Con Prasad has never visited Megha nate the rescue mission. This been hiring the best legal brains to this one fact: there are 3,923 coal cause the mines are privately gress is still a centralised party, and Mr. Gandhi is rou laya. When asked why he is the pe shows the kind of disaster prepa argue for them in the highest court mines in one district with a geo owned by the tribals. How long tinely authorised to take the final call on all matters big titioner on behalf of the miners, he redness we have in our country. of the land. They say that rathole graphical area of 2126 sq. km. can the Central government and and small; but, equally, he has also shown the ability to simply said: “They are fellow In One shudders to think what the mining should continue because The other troubling factor is the highest court of the land allow step back in a spirit of accommodation in dealings with dians and my brethren.” That so response would be if there was a no other form of mining is viable that coal mine owners are insisting this to carry on in one part of the allied parties. That he did not declare himself as a meone based in Delhi should have massive earthquake in the North (which means that their profit that since Meghalaya is a State un country when strict laws are ap prime ministerial candidate of the Opposition was born the empathy lacking in the people east, which is listed as Zone 5 on margins would reduce if other der the Sixth Schedule of the Con plied elsewhere? and the government shows that the seismic scale. forms of mining were to take stitution, national mining laws of tactical necessity; even so, he has shown a fair humanity is a dying virtue. There are many questions that place). They argue that the NGT should be exempted here. The P atricia Mukhim is Editor, The Shillong amount of maturity in dealing with a wide array of al Mr. Prasad has done everything arise with respect to rathole min ban should be lifted. They claim Sixth Schedule was enacted to Times lies. During the Manmohan Singh years, the Congress was able to counter, to an extent at least, the perception that it revolved around the dynasty. And the BJP may not find much political purchase in linking Ms. Vadra’s The ground beneath our feet has moved to the right appointment to dynastic politics; there will be no sur prise, however, if it starts harping on her husband’s al legedly murky land dealings, which had cropped up Hate has become mainstream.