Supreme Court to hear Petition on Meghalaya mine Rescue

Guwahati, January 2, 2019:

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition seeking urgent steps for the rescue of trapped miners in an illegal coal mine in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district. The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S.K. Kaul, who will take it up on Thursday.

The petition, filed by lawyer Adithya N Prasad, asked the Centre as well as state authorities to prepare a standard operating procedure (SPO) to continue rescue operations. It is to be mentioned that rescue operations came to a screeching halt on Tuesday after high-power pumps brought to the site to rescue the trapped miners had technical difficulties.

Indian Navy divers are being assisted by personnel from Odisha Fire Services as well as Coal India in the rescue efforts.