Shillong: The District Magistrate of Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills District, IAS Manish Kumar, has ordered the immediate dismantling of lifting cranes, tents and other machinery found at the site of the recent explosion at a an illegal coal mine in the Mynsngat Thangsko area, which resulted in the death and injuries of several people.
The order have been issued following a report submitted by the Inquiry Officer and forwarded by the Superintendent of Police, East Jaintia Hills District, seeking permission to dismantle lifting cranes found standing at the incident site.
As per the order, “there are three to four coal mines existing adjacent to each other” in the area. It further noted that all coal mines existing at Mynsngat Thangsko “are also involved in fresh extraction of coal using heavy machinery like lifting cranes and others.”
The District Magistrate observed that lifting cranes and other equipment “are creating public nuisance and are has hazardous to the public”, and that the machinery “might be used for illegal extraction of coal”.
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The order also referred to the ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal in 2014 on illegal coal extraction, stating that “extraction of illegal coal using illegal means has been banned” and that it is “highly necessary to prevent illegal coal extraction by using such machineries.”
The District Magistrate said, “Now therefore, I Shri Manish Kumar, IAS, District Magistrate, East Jaintia Hills District, Khliehriat in exercise of the powers conferred upon me under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, do hereby order and permit the dismantling of unlawful obstruction such as the coal lifting cranes, tents and others from the place of Occurrence at Mynsngat Thangsko area, East Jaintia Hills District.”
The order also directs the dismantling of the machinery to be carried out strictly under the supervision of the Investigating Officer. It also mandates that the site be photographed before and after dismantling or removal, with proper geo-tagging and GPS coordinates shall be maintained by the Inquiry Officer.
The entire process is to be properly documented and submitted in the form of an Action Taken Report (ATR) to the District Magistrate at the earliest.
