What Is Rat-Hole Mining And Why 'Experts' Of This Illegal' Technique Are Deployed In Uttarkashi Tunnel Rescue?

A team of rat-hole mining 'experts' from Uttar Pradesh have joined the efforts to rescue the 41 construction workers who have been trapped inside the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, since November 12.

The team of 12 rat-hole mining experts has been involved in the manual drilling at the Silkyara tunnel site since Monday, after the American-made Auger machine broke down and got stuck in the drill hole on the weekend, further delaying the rescue.

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What rat-hole miners are doing in Silkyara

Rat-hole mining experts are involved in the horizontal excavation through the last 10 or 12 metres of debris.

But the manual drilling through the rubble is likely to take much longer, and if the rescuers encounter any hurdle during excavation, which has often been hampered by something or the other, the operation could be delayed further.

What is rat-hole mining?

Rat-hole mining is a controversial and hazardous procedure in which miners in small groups go down narrow burrows to excavate small quantities of coal.

The practice was prevalent in the remote hill districts of Meghalaya, where illegal coal mines are operated.

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Small batches of miners often enter illegal or abandoned coal mines by digging extremely narrow tunnels searching for coal.

Is rat-hole mining legal?

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) banned rat-hole mining in 2014, terming it unscientific.

Despite the NGT ban, rah-hole mining has continued in Meghalaya, and earlier this year the High Court had suggested the State Government should devise schemes to provide alternative livelihood to the people who have taken to dangerous mining methods for want of opportunities.

2018 Meghalaya coal mine accident

Rat-hole mining can be hazardous, and one of the worst such disasters happened in December 2018, when a group of 15 miners who were involved in rat-hole mining in East Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya got trapped inside after a breach caused water from the nearby Lytein River to enter the underground mine.

AFP

The 15 miners were trapped at a depth of around 370 feet inside the rat hole mine on December 13, 2018, when it got flooded.

Despite a massive rescue operation, none of the 15 men were rescued.

In fact, only two bodies were ever recovered from the mine, and that too after 33 days of massive, multi-agency search operation.

Rat-hole mining 'experts' not miners

Given the nature of the job at hand and the grey area they are operating, Uttarakhand government's nodal officer Neeraj Khairwal made it clear that the men brought to the Silkyara tunnel site were not rat-hole miners but people who are experts in the technique.

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Each team will go into the steel chute laid into the escape passage for brief periods. Rajput Rai, a rat-hole drilling expert, said one man would do the drilling, another would collect the rubble with his hands, and the third would place it on a trolley to be pulled out.

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