Rat-hole mining is a method of extracting coal by digging very small pits, not more than 4 feet wide. Once the miners reach the coal seam, tunnels are made sideways to extract the coal. The coal brought out is dumped nearby and later transported via highways.
These workers (rat -miners) are trained in narrow tunnel excavations and use handheld tools for digging through rock.
It is a primitive, perilous, and contentious technique primarily employed in India for extracting coal deposits through confined passages. The term is derived from its likeness to rats burrowing through narrow holes.
The technique has been long used for the extraction of coal where miners excavate small pits, typically not exceeding 4 feet in width, to access coal deposits.
Once the coal seam is reached, lateral tunnels are excavated to extract the coal.
This mining method was widely practised across eastern Meghalaya state due to the narrow coal seams found there, as other methods remained economically unviable.
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But National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned rat hole mining in 2014 as it causes environmental degradation and is a threat to the life of miner
It ruled that the technique was dangerous and unscientific after a case was brought over the deaths of several rat-hole miners, including some children.
