A Question of Life and Death: SC seeks Centre’s response on rescue of Meghalaya miners

The Supreme Court today sought a reply from the Centre on the steps taken to rescue the miners trapped in a coalmine in Meghalaya..The Bench of Justices AK Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer termed this tragedy as “very serious” and stated that “it is a question of life and death.”.The Attorney General for Meghalaya placed on record before the Court all the steps the State has taken to rescue the miners. The Court was told that various personnel from the National and State Disaster Response Forces (NDRF and SDRF) have been deployed to rescue the miners..Since the cave the miners are trapped in is connected to a river, personnel from the Navy have also been deployed for the rescue operation, the Court was told..However, Justice AK Sikri remarked that these steps were “not satisfactory”, as they have yielded no result. Sikri J asked the State of Meghalaya why the Army was not requisitioned in the rescue operation even after help was offered by the institution..Senior Counsel Anand Grover appearing for the petitioner apprised the Court of various steps that were taken during a similar incident that occurred in Thailand recently. He pointed out that Kirloskar pumps were requisitioned during the Thailand incident to pump out water from the cave..It was alleged by the petitioner that there is a lack of coordination among the agencies working on the rescue operation..After the Court expressed its willingness to hear the law officers for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared before the Bench..Mehta informed the Court of a meeting that took place between the Union Minister for Coal and the Chief Minister of Meghalaya to look into the issue. A nodal officer is expected to be appointed to look into the matter..Noting the urgency of the matter, the Court said that in this situation, “every minute counts”. It thus directed SG Tushar Mehta to take instructions and apprise the Court of the Centre’s plan of action in the matter..The Court will hear the matter tomorrow..The petition filed before the Supreme Court highlighted the plight of the fifteen miners trapped inside a coal mine in East Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya..The miners were trapped in a narrow coal mine in the Ksan area of Lumthari village on December 13, after water from the nearby Lytein river gushed into it. Rescue operations are reportedly ongoing, with experts opining that they may take at least another week to complete..The PIL seeks a direction to the Central Government and the Meghalaya Government to utilize the services of expert/technical arms of the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force to rescue the miners immediately..The petition preferred by advocate Aditya N Prasad also seeks the requisition and deployment of high capacity, self-priming, or any other pumps available in the country, including the Kirloskar Brothers Pumps which were offered to the Thai Government to rescue 12 boys and their football coach from a cave in July 2018.