Meghalaya’s Rajya Sabha MP – WR Kharlukhi, advocated for the legalization of rat-hole coal mining and questioned why those dependent on it would suffer due to “policy failure”.

Kharlukhi, the state president of the ruling NPP in Meghalaya, is aware of the negative impacts of rat-hole mining on the environment and deliberated the urgent need to see the significant aspect — human lives or “other concerns”.

Addressing the media persons, Kharlukhi questioned, “Why should my people suffer for the sake of failure of a policy somewhere?”

“If you say that human life is not valuable, then okay. Or if you feel that we tribals are not valuable, then okay. But don’t keep our people hanging like this,” he added.

Rat-hole mining involves digging narrow tunnels, usually 3-4 feet high, for workers to enter and extract coal. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned rat-hole mining of coal in 2014, terming it ‘unscientific’.

According to government reports, the coal mining industry was among the highest revenue earners for the state, generating about Rs 700 crore annually, before its ban in 2014.

Despite the ban, an illegal mining has led to several accidents in the last few years.

Kharlukhi said the Centre did nothing to start scientific mining. He assured to raise the matter in Parliament.

“If the government cannot frame policy, then you will have to allow them to continue mining (using the rat-hole mining method),” he said.

“For 40 years, rat-hole mining was allowed, and only now they realized that it is harmful. Did they not know that rat-hole mining was going on in Meghalaya?” he said.

The leader suggested that the government should assess whether open-cast mining is feasible in the state.

He claimed that the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government in the state, of which the BJP is a part, was trying best to get the ban lifted through legal means.