GUWAHATI The High Court of Meghalaya has asked the State government to find out how 3,950.15 metric tonnes (MT) of illegally mined coal vanished from two coal depots.
The missing coal was highlighted in the 31st interim report submitted to the court on Thursday (July 24, 2025) by Justice B.P. Katakey, a retired judge appointed a few years ago to monitor coal mining and transportation issues in Meghalaya.
According to the report, the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) recorded 3,960.95 MT of coal at the designated depots in Diengngan and Rajaju villages some time ago. Diengngan is in the Ri-Bhoi and Rajaju in the West Khasi Hills districts, respectively.
However, during a recent inspection by the district authorities, only 2.5 MT of coal with residue was found instead of the inventoried 1.839.03 MT.
Similarly, only 8 MT of coal with residue was found at the Rajaju depot against 2,121.62 MT of coal recorded by the MBDA earlier. The missing volume worked out to 3,950.15 MT.
