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Shillong: Not one of the 26,000 abandoned rat-hole coal mines in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district has so far been closed despite an order, posing risk of loss of life of humans as well as livestock, the Meghalaya high court was informed.The rat-hole mining and transportation of coal in the Himalayan state were banned 10 years ago by the National Green Tribunal. Over 14 lakh metric tons of already mined coal is left to be transported, a one-man committee formed by the high court to monitor the mining and transportation of coal said in its 22nd interim report on Tuesday.“Not a single abandoned mine so far has been closed as the process of closure is still in the initial stage i.e the preparation of Detail Project Report (DPR) by the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDI).“It is on record that in East Jaintia Hills District alone, there are about 26,000 rat-hole mine openings which need to be closed down because of the ban on the rat-hole coal mining, to avoid the risk of loss of human life as well as of the livestock,” the report read. The number of rat hole mines from other districts - West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills and South Garo Hills - where coal mining is rampant has not been taken into consideration, it said. pti

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