SHILLONG | Feb 28, 2017: More than two years after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned rat-hole coal mining in the state, a documentary portraying the hazardous practice is set to be screened at a three-day film festival to be held at the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) from Tuesday.
The documentary, 'Fireflies in the Abyss', directed by Chandrasekhar Reddy, will be showcased at 'MIFF in Meghalaya', which is a festival of selected films of the Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films. It is being organized by the films division, government of India, and the department of journalism and mass communication, NEHU. "Nineteen award-winning films will be screened at the festival, including those from Romania, the United Kingdom, Australia and India," said Sumay Mookherjee, senior branch manager, films division, Union ministry of information and broadcasting.
Rat-hole mines, which the documentary depicts, are hostile pits where miners risked their lives every day to scratch coal out of hard rock, burrowing into narrow tunnels with nothing more than a pickaxe and a torch.
The practice had been banned after the Assam-based All Dimasa Students' Union and Dima Hasao District Committee filed a petition to the NGT, stating that acidic discharge from the mines was polluting the Kopili river downstream.
"The festival will showcase some of the finest cinematic works of the past few years from across the world," Mookherjee said, adding that 'Little Terrorist', directed by Ashvin Kumar, which was also nominated for the 2005 Oscar Awards for Live Action Short Film, will be screened as the opening film.
Mookherjee said aspiring filmmakers can visit www.filmsdivision.org for financial assistance.
(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)