Jabalpur | April 11, 2016: The Madhya Pradesh government on Sunday announced a magisterial inquiry into the coal mine roof collapse in Umaria district which had killed two miners and left two critically injured.

The probe will be conducted by the additional district magistrate, who has been asked to submit the report within a fortnight, Umaria district collector Abhishek Singh said.

The injured, identified as Sohan Kol and Sohan Kumar, are being treated at a Jabalpur hospital. Sohan Kol is feared to have suffered paralysis down the waist, reports said.

The coal mines are owned by the South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), which has been in the news in 2015 when 10 workers were reported killed in various mishaps across 107 mines situated in MP and Chhattisgarh.

In another incident on Sunday, around one acre land of a closed mine of SECL at Chagera village in Shahdol district caved in 4-5 ft. However, no casualty has been reported so far. District collector MK Shukla said, “The SECL officials were of the view that some people might be indulging in illegal coal mining from the closed mines, which had caused the surface collapsing in the village”.

Meanwhile, AITUC leader Haridwar Singh said, “The miners are working under strenuous conditions and were pressured for production targets, which often led to such incidents.”

However, he said 80% of coal mine accidents take place due to human negligence. He said the SECL should conduct an internal inquiry and punish the guilty. SECL area manager Anil Mishra could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

However, experts said that heavy vibrations due to drilling work could have caused the roof collapse.

(Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/)