BIG EXCLUSIVE
Justice B.P. Katakey (Retired), heading the Meghalaya High Court–appointed committee monitoring coal transportation, has sounded a strong warning on the massive challenge of sealing over 22,000 abandoned and inactive coal mine openings in East Jaintia Hills, stressing that conventional closure methods could drain public resources.
Calling for cost-effective, locally driven alternatives, Justice Katakey urged the district administration to move beyond expensive technical models and adopt community-backed strategies to tackle what remains one of Meghalaya’s most serious environmental and safety threats.
At the same time, the committee chief acknowledged visible progress on the ground. Police and district authorities have stepped up surveillance of illegal mining zones, deploying drones to track violations. With only one police drone currently available in East Jaintia Hills, Justice Katakey has formally requested the police headquarters to allot an additional drone to strengthen monitoring.
Speaking on the developments, Justice Katakey told Meghalaya News 24,“One good thing is that police and the district administration of East Jaintia Hills district pursuant to my various reports submitted, they are taking some positive steps to curb the illegal coal mining activities in their district, which is the most, where more than 22,000 coal pits were earlier found as I have reported to the High Court already, and it appears that they (police and district administration) are very active on that now and they have found out the areas of concern and they have entrusted that duties to some Extra Assistant Commissioner level officers and drone survey is done there. There are police drones also, there is only one police drone in East Jaintia Hills District. I have requested the police department headquarters to allot one more drone for the surveillance by the police, so those things are going on, positive things are going on.”
Justice Katakey clarified that while most of the coal pits are no longer operational, the government has launched a pilot project to seal around 50 mines, based on a report prepared by the Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited (CMPDI). However, he cautioned that replicating this model across thousands of pits would be financially unsustainable.
Emphasizing the scale of the challenge, he said,“Like wise we have to close 22,000 mine openings in East Jaintia Hills District itself. Therefore, I have requested the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police East Jaintia Hills as well as the concerned department to find out the alternative way of closing the mines because if we go by the project report submitted by the CMPDI, the cost will be huge for closure of mines. So, I have requested the Deputy Commissioners to involve the local NGOs, local village headmen, so that those mines could be closed locally,”
Justice Katakey’s remarks come amid persistent concerns over illegal coal mining in Meghalaya, an issue that continues to endanger lives, damage fragile ecosystems, and challenge enforcement agencies despite repeated judicial interventions.
