The explosion that tore through an illegal coal mine at Thangskoo in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district on the morning of February 5 was not an accident in the ordinary sense of the word. It was the predictable outcome of a system that has, for years, allowed hazardous and outlawed mining practices to continue in plain sight. At least 27 labourers lost their lives in the powerful dynamite blast at around 11:00 am, while nine others were left critically injured. Many were trapped underground in what environmentalists and social activists have long described as “death pits.”
In the immediate aftermath, the Meghalaya government expressed its grief. Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma announced an ex gratia payment of ₹3 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased. Investigations were promised, FIRs registered, and rescue operations launched.
Yet the central question that has refused to fade is whether the state was truly unaware of what was happening in Thangskoo and similar mining belts, or whether it simply chose to look away. Each tragedy follows a familiar script of outrage and assurances, only for the system to return to business as usual until the next catastrophe strikes.
Coal mining in Meghalaya, predominantly carried out through the rat-hole method, has been officially banned for more than a decade. In April 2014, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) prohibited the practice, calling out its extreme hazards. The ban was later upheld by the Supreme Court of India.
Successive governments, including the present one under Conrad Sangma, have repeatedly spoken about transitioning to “scientific” coal mining as a safer and legal alternative. However, on the ground, illegal mining has continued unabated, operating openly under the nose of the administration.
A ban on paper and mining on the ground
Despite the NGT ban, East Jaintia Hills and other coal-bearing districts have remained sites of continuous extraction. In April 2025, the Meghalaya government formally initiated legal coal mining, more than ten years after the prohibition. Chief Minister Sangma inaugurated the first so-called scientific coal mining block at Saryngkham-A in the Byndihati area of East Jaintia Hills. Two additional blocks, Lumiakhi Wahsarang in the same district and Pyndengshalang in West Khasi Hills, were cleared by the Ministry of Coal.
Yet these developments have not translated into a reduction in illegal mining. There is still no substantial explanation as to why, despite the start of legal mining, unlawful operations remain rampant.
Local reports compiled after the Thangskoo incident point to multiple mishaps in illegal coal mines over the years, many of which have resulted in deaths or serious injuries. Activists argue that the persistence of these operations reflects not administrative incapacity, but a failure of political will.
The record of fatalities is long and grim. Only in January this year, two coal mine workers died in separate incidents in East Jaintia Hills. In 2022, two more workers were killed in West Khasi Hills. In that case, the mine owner surrendered, was arrested, and later released on bail. Since 2018, local media has reported several such incidents following the present government’s rise to power. Many deaths, however, never make it to the headlines.
This pattern of invisibility was documented as early as 2011 by the Child Rights International Network. Its report claimed that deaths in Meghalaya’s coal mines often go unrecorded and uninvestigated, deliberately hushed up to prevent mines from being shut down.
The report also exposed how “thousands” of children were working as miners across coal belts in the northeast, highlighting the deep entanglement of exploitation, poverty, and illegality that continues to define the sector.
Judicial warnings ignored and explosions foretold
The Thangskoo tragedy has unfolded against the backdrop of repeated judicial interventions. In a suo-motu PIL on illegal coal mining, the Meghalaya High Court appointed Justice B.P. Katakey (Retired) in 2022 as a one-man committee to monitor the situation. Since then, Justice Katakey has consistently warned that illegal mining remains “highly prevalent,” particularly in East Jaintia Hills.
Following the February 5 blast, he stated that four mine pits had exploded, leading to 25 confirmed fatalities at that point. He also remarked that during his visits, illegal mining activities were clearly visible along roadsides.
Only weeks before the explosion, the Katakey committee had directed the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police of East Jaintia Hills to identify vulnerable areas and intensify patrolling.
In its 34th interim report to the High Court, the committee explicitly noted that most illegal mining was concentrated in East Jaintia Hills and stressed the need for constant monitoring by district authorities. The report placed clear responsibility on the Deputy Commissioner and the police superintendent to ensure that illegally mined coal was neither extracted nor transported.
The committee further recommended that detailed monthly reports on enforcement actions be submitted to the Chief Secretary, and that the Chief Secretary or Additional Chief Secretary issue periodic directives to curb illegal mining. Yet, even now, there is little clarity on what concrete steps the state government took in response to these recommendations. The silence has raised serious doubts about whether warnings were acted upon at all.
Crucially, there had already been a fatal warning from Thangskoo itself. On December 23, 2025, a labourer named Ashok Tamang reportedly died in a dynamite explosion in the same district. Justice Katakey has confirmed that there was “one thing sure” an explosion occurred in East Jaintia Hills on that date. He sought a detailed report to determine whether it was linked to coal mining.
The High Court, in its judgment on February 5, took judicial notice of explosions in three illegal coal mines causing deaths and injuries, directing authorities to take “immediate, effective, and stringent action.”
Collusion, fear, and the human cost of inaction
In response to the High Court’s directions, the district administration invoked Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). Orders were issued for strict vigilance in Thangskoo, seizure of vehicles and equipment, and legal proceedings under the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act and allied laws. Authorities also warned of attempts to destroy evidence and authorized magistrates, with police support, to identify and apprehend mine owners, operators, financiers, and others involved. Any violation, the order stated, would invite strict penal action.
SP Vikash Kumar confirmed that a suo-motu FIR had been registered under the BNSS, the MMDR Act, and the Explosives Substances Act.
Union Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy expressed deep anguish and demanded a full report, clarifying that there are no authorized coal mines under the Government of India in Meghalaya. He urged the state to stop the “mafia” running these operations. Yet activists remain sceptical, arguing that registering cases rarely translates into meaningful punishment.
Social activist Agnes Kharshiing stated that the Thangskoo blast was not an isolated incident. “Two or three similar cases were recently reported in Thangskoo, but they were ignored by the authorities,” she said, questioning whether officials were unaware or deliberately silent.
She also raised pointed questions about logistics: how miners obtain dynamite, who authorizes its supply, and how hundreds of coal-laden trucks move through check posts at night without being stopped.
As of now, the death toll stands at 27. While 23 to 24 bodies were recovered from the mine, one injured labourer succumbed to his injuries at NEIGRIHMS Hospital in Shillong, and nine others remain under treatment.
Justice Katakey has also flagged another fatal incident from January 14, 2026, when a labourer from Assam, Mosaid Ali of Hojai district, died allegedly due to illegal mining at Umthe under Sutnga Elaka. “I have been informed today that yes such incident has occurred,” Katakey said, adding that video clips of a blast were being verified.
Behind the statistics are stories of desperation. Families of the labourers spoke of poverty that pushed them into dangerous pits. The wife of an injured miner said her husband had worked there for three months to feed their children. Another woman shared that her brother, now in the ICU, had joined the mine just three days before the explosion.
Activists speak of a “climate of fear” in which families are too intimidated to speak out, and of “high-level collusion” that makes official condemnations appear like mere “window dressing.”
Rescue operations involving the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and police continue at the remote site, accessible only by four-wheel-drive vehicles. But beyond rescue and relief, the Thangskoo tragedy has laid bare a deeper truth. When illegal mining survives years of bans, court orders, committee reports, and visible warnings, the question is no longer whether the disaster could have been prevented. It is how many more lives must be lost before the silence that enables these death pits finally breaks.
