SHILLONG, Jan 12 - The rescue team at Ksan is toiling unsuccessfully to dewater shafts, sending in Remote Operated Vehicles, Navy divers, but don�t seem to have a Plan B, like seeking assistance from the North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC.)
�Electric Resistivity Survey (ERS) might prove useful to identify the seepage in the present case. There are many commercial firms having the expertise in such surveys. In fact there are firms in Guwahati, I believe�,� NESAC Director, PLN Raju told The Assam Tribune.
One of the biggest challenges of the operation has been identifying source of the water seepage in the shafts. Water is being pumped out, but the water seepage is not helping reduction of the water in the shafts. The State Survey team failed to detect the source and so the operations continued to vigorously pump out water.
But with pumps failing, ROVs getting entangled in the shafts, specialised Navy divers unable to contribute meaningfully, a different approach not being considered is surprising to say the least.
NESAC which is headquartered at Umiam was never approached all these days probably because it gave an adverse report on the illegal coal mining in the area.
Nonetheless, according to Raju, ERS is used to identify ground sources. The method is used worldwide to also detect the depth of the groundwater, the movement of ground water and many other characteristics of groundwater.
He said that not just ERS, other technologies should also be given a try like SONAR technology, underwater drones of the Navy and simultaneously water needs to be pumped out.
�No our assistance has not been sought. We are looked at as some sort of an enemy after we gave our inputs about freshly dug coal to the NGT constituted committee headed by retired Justice BP Kakoti,� the NESAC Director added.
The evidence provided by NESAC on illegal coal mining was clinching as it provided satellites images of freshly dug coal. The evidence was the cornerstone of the NGT�s order in slapping a penalty of Rs 100 crore on the State Government in failing to stop illegal mining.
Meanwhile, the rescue operations continued today and Coal India Limited, pumped out 20,41,200 litres of water in the past 18 hours. The Odisha Fire Service pumped out 6,57,000 litres from two old shafts. �The operations would continue tomorrow,� R Susngi, District Public Relations Officer said.
