East Jaintia Hills has been in the limelight since December 13 when 15 miners were trapped inside a coal mine at Ksan under Saipung police station. On Friday, the NGT asked the Meghalaya government to “deposit” Rs 100 crore with the CPCB after the committee opined that illegal coal mining was on despite the ban. After taking over as chief minister earlier last year, Conrad K. Sangma had been denying the allegation that illegal coal extraction was taking place in the state. But after the December 13 accident, the chief minister admitted that the government was aware of continued illegal coal mining. “We are aware that illegal mining activities were on.

Source: The Telegraph January 06, 2019 19:41 UTC