Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma on Monday said the search and rescue operations for the miners trapped inside a flooded mine at Ksan in East Jaintia Hills district will have to be reviewed although the government does not intend to give up just yet.
Conrad, who is also in charge of the mining and geology department, said here that the multiple agencies involved in the search and rescue operations were not getting “even an inch closer to positive results”.
“Though we do not intend to give up immediately, it looks like an exercise which is not going to work in a very positive manner. Right now, the results are not encouraging,” he admitted.
The chief minister said the agencies have been putting in a lot of effort but no one was prepared for the situation when the accident came to light.
About 15 miners were trapped inside a coal mine at Ksan under Saipung police station on December 13 last year. More than a month later, on January 16, an underwater remotely operated vehicle of the navy detected a decomposed body inside a rat-hole in the mine. The navy tried to pull up the body but gave up as it was disintegrating. They are still awaiting orders from the government on their next move.
Conrad said the government would have to review the operation with all the field officers, including the navy, NDRF, Odisha fire and disaster management services and Coal India Limited.
“We will get a view from everybody and take a final call,” he said.
The chief minister also said the financial implication of the search and rescue operations was “massive”, although he did not reveal the figures. “The (district) administration has been continuously asking for funds and we are readily giving it to them,” he added.
At Ksan, dewatering of mines continued on Monday. Official spokesman R. Susngi said Coal India Limited used two pumps to dewater from two old shafts. Together the pumps were used for 30 hours (20 and 10) and discharged 34,02,000 litres of water in the last 24 hours. A pump used by Kirloskar Brothers Limited from Pune for 21 hours discharged around 41,58,000 litres while a pump of the Odisha fire and disaster management services pumped out 5,40,000 litres.
