Shahdol: On Monday, in a terrible incident in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, a husband and wife died in a coal mine collapse that was illegal. However, growing coal demand and coal mafias are bringing about rampant illegal mining in that region. Following the accident, Minister of Small and Cottage Industries Dilip Jaiswal stated that the accident was a loss of national property and that illegal mining activity would be curbed.
Shahdol, like many other tribal-dominated districts of Madhya Pradesh, has plenty of mineral resources and is also lucrative in coal mining. Yet together with these legal operations, small-scale illegal coal mines have come up. The areas of Burhar, Amlai, Sohagpur, Keshwahi, and Jaitpur have become hubs for the illicit mining of coal, which is in the hands of powerful coal mafias. These mines, with their equally dangerous conditions, are huge caverns that are as much an underground mine as they are mines in the ground.
The smuggled coal is illegally mined in various regions, including brick kilns in nearby parts and districts in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. Since the laborers lost their lives due to the mine collapse over the years, it has not deterred what illegal operations are going on in the mine. In another instance of the dire predicament of Nepal’s air harbors, the latest accident has claimed the tragic lives of the couple.
While the gravity of the problem has not been overlooked, Minister Dilip Jaiswal vowed to address the problem of illegal mining with an iron hand. However, Shahdol SP Ramji Srivastava told the police that they have been cracking down periodically on illegal mining. In fact, though, given the availability of cheap black diamond nearby, there is an appeal in it for those looking for a quick buck. These life-threatening operations are fueled by the ongoing nexus between coal mafias and some administrative elements.
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