GUWAHATI: Leader of the workers who are currently trapped at the bottom of the flooded coal mine in Assam. Dima Hasao The district was arrested on Thursday night, even as Navy and Army rescuers made little progress on the fifth day of the operation.
An official said dewatering of the 340-foot-deep vertical shaft continued on Friday using specialized machines brought by ONGC and Coal India. So far the body of a Nepalese worker has been recovered. Workers were trapped inside a 3kg coal quarry in Umrangso after a sudden gush of water flooded the site on January 6. Police said their ‘sardar’ (leader), Hanan Laskar, had fled the scene soon after. Early Tuesday, Punish Nunisa, tenant of the quarry, was arrested.
On Friday, the Congress held a statewide sit-in over the alleged illegal coal syndicate in the state. APCC president Bhupen Kumar Borah said, “The failure of CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s government has been exposed with the tragic deaths of innocent workers trapped in the illegal coal syndicate in Umrangso.”
Borah said the sit-in was held under the title “In Search of the Truth: Who is the Coal Union Kingpin?” with the demand to identify the boss and make his name public. “We have not seen the CM express his grief over the death of a miner. No politician or BJP worker has visited the families of the miners to provide support to them at this critical time. The CM has not visited the site of the incident. National President of the BJP, which recently visited the state, did not give a statement regarding the incident,” he added.
Congress MP from the state and deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said this was not an isolated incident and the problem of illegal mining in the region has been going on for years, with numerous similar tragedies in the past. He said Sarma should focus on what is happening in the state and take full responsibility for the tragedy. “We demand exemplary punishments for those responsible for these illegal activities and compensation for the families,” Gogoi added.