The explosion in an illegal rat-hole mine in Meghalaya on February 5, killing at least 18 workers, is a grim reminder that court supervision cannot substitute governance. Rat-hole mining is the norm (for illegal setups), and they are prone to collapsing because they lack engineered roofs and side-wall protections. Illegal coal is currently not easy to separate from legacy or auctioned coal once it has entered the supply chain. Meghalaya already has a framework to prevent illegal mining, transport, and storage under the MMDR Act. Treating rat-hole mining as an enforcement issue alone risks pushing the practice further underground.

Source: The Hindu February 06, 2026 19:58 UTC