By Express News Service
GUWAHATI: Three labourers died in a coal mine in Tinsukia district of Assam on the Arunachal Pradesh border. The police said the incident occurred outside the Ledo Tikok coalfield on Sunday night. The police picked up eight persons, including fellow labourers, in connection with the incident. The owner of the mine is absconding.
Tinsukia Superintendent of Police Debojit Deori told this newspaper that it is not clear if the persons died by inhaling toxic gas, as claimed by fellow labourers, or due to other reasons. “On learning about the incident on Monday night, we rushed a team to the site and recovered the bodies. The bodies had been buried and had to be exhumed before being sent for post-mortem,” Deori said.
“We don’t know if the persons were alive or dead when they were buried. There could be a criminal angle too. So unless we receive the post-mortem report, we cannot say anything with certainty,” Deori added. He said one David, who is the owner of the illegal coal mine, had brought 11 Muslim labourers from lower Assam’s Bongaigaon and Goalpara districts to extract coal by following the method of rat-hole mining.
“David used to make them extract coal in a clandestine manner at night. He is the prime accused and we have registered a case against him. He is absconding but we will catch him soon,” the SP said. Mine tragedies are a more common occurrence in the neighbouring and coal-rich Meghalaya, where several labourers, mostly from Assam, have lost their lives over the years. The National Green Tribunal had banned rat-hole coal mining in April 2014 but the activists in Meghalaya often allege that there is no let-up in the illegal mining activities.
Mine owner goes missing: PoliceThe owner of the mine, David, is absconding, police said. He is said to have brought 11 labourers from Bongaigaon and Goalpara districts to extract coal by following the method of rat-hole mining
GUWAHATI: Three labourers died in a coal mine in Tinsukia district of Assam on the Arunachal Pradesh border. The police said the incident occurred outside the Ledo Tikok coalfield on Sunday night. The police picked up eight persons, including fellow labourers, in connection with the incident. The owner of the mine is absconding.
Tinsukia Superintendent of Police Debojit Deori told this newspaper that it is not clear if the persons died by inhaling toxic gas, as claimed by fellow labourers, or due to other reasons. “On learning about the incident on Monday night, we rushed a team to the site and recovered the bodies. The bodies had been buried and had to be exhumed before being sent for post-mortem,” Deori said.
“We don’t know if the persons were alive or dead when they were buried. There could be a criminal angle too. So unless we receive the post-mortem report, we cannot say anything with certainty,” Deori added. He said one David, who is the owner of the illegal coal mine, had brought 11 Muslim labourers from lower Assam’s Bongaigaon and Goalpara districts to extract coal by following the method of rat-hole mining.
“David used to make them extract coal in a clandestine manner at night. He is the prime accused and we have registered a case against him. He is absconding but we will catch him soon,” the SP said. Mine tragedies are a more common occurrence in the neighbouring and coal-rich Meghalaya, where several labourers, mostly from Assam, have lost their lives over the years. The National Green Tribunal had banned rat-hole coal mining in April 2014 but the activists in Meghalaya often allege that there is no let-up in the illegal mining activities.
Mine owner goes missing: Police
The owner of the mine, David, is absconding, police said. He is said to have brought 11 labourers from Bongaigaon and Goalpara districts to extract coal by following the method of rat-hole mining
