GUWAHATI: Six workers were charred to death and four others injured at a coal mine in Nagaland. The incident occurred at Ruchayan village in the Wokha district around 1 pm on Thursday. The district authorities ordered a probe into the incident. The deceased were from Assam. The injured, also from Assam, were undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nagaland’s commercial hub Dimapur.It was not clear how the fire broke out. Officials suspected that the generator exploded due to leakage while some locals claimed gas released from the mine caused the inferno. The police said no safety measures, including fire extinguishers, were available at the mine at the time of the incident. The owners of the mine decided to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to the families of the six deceased.Achumbemo Kikon, who is a Naga People’s Front MLA, said the coal mine is located under his Bhandari constituency. “This is not the first such tragedy in my constituency and it will not be the last if steps are not taken urgently by the government for scientific mining,” Kikon told a news channel. He also urged the government to enforce strict regulations to stop illegal mining. Noting the rampant rat-hole mining in the area, he raised his concerns with the state government and took up the issue with the villagers earlier. In the tribal-majority state, land is owned by individuals, communities and villages as per customary laws. The government has no control over minerals and other natural resources. The owners of the coal mine in question allegedly did not take any approval from the authorities concerned for mining.The workers allegedly extracted coal by following the dangerous method of rat-hole mining. In 2014, the National Green Tribunal had banned rat-hole mining, calling it unscientific. However, this practice continues largely in the Northeast, especially in Meghalaya. Mishaps in coal mines in the region claimed numerous lives of workers in the past. High daily wages, which could go up to Rs 1,500, draw a lot of youth from poor families to the mines.
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