The Meghalaya government has informed the High Court that it has ordered a fresh inspection of coal dump sites in two villages of South West Khasi Hills after nearly 4,000 metric tonnes of coal detected in an aerial survey could not be accounted for during ground verification.

In an affidavit submitted on Monday, the state said a final report would be ready within a month. The direction follows a probe initiated by the district deputy commissioner in compliance with a July 24 High Court order linked to a PIL filed in 2022.

A three-member committee of senior officials, formed to investigate the discrepancy, concluded that it was “highly improbable” for such a large quantity of coal to vanish without detection. The committee attributed the mismatch to incomplete information, environmental

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