Meghalaya mine tragedy: Illegal mining rampant in the country

Around 77,081 cases of illegal mining reported in April- December 2017

Fifteen miners remain trapped in an illegal ‘rathole’ coal mine for over three weeks in India. Illegal mining, however, is not new for the country and would continue unless radical changes are brought in, say various stakeholders from the mining industry.

Rat hole mining is a process of digging holes to make narrow tunnels to extract a mineral, said to be prevalent in some parts of the country, and also an illegal process. Industry officials, government representatives and social workers, as well as government data, all agree illegal mining is an issue. The menace, however, involves a complex web of