Ceu Peng (16) , Hakha Town, the capital of Chin state was brought over and settled by Mr Za Ceu (32) in Meghalaya to work in a coalmine on 16 February 2010.

“I contacted my nephew (Ceu Peng) three or four times in the past. Ceu Peng told me that local people threatened and sometimes beat him and Za Ceu,” said Mr. Peng Uk, an uncle of Ceu Peng, staying in Aizawl, Mizoram state of India.

Za Ceu was contacted by Peng Uk to come back home with Ceu Peng but he demanded Rs. 6000 as ransom to release his nephew in December last year, said Peng Uk.

“Za Ceu told me that my nephew owed Rs. 5800 to him, so he demanded Rs. 6000 and banged down the telephone. I could not go to that area, so I could not bring back my nephew,” said a disturbed Peng Uk.

Ceu Peng’s relatives also arrived in Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram state and made inquiries in the last week of March about Ceu Peng. But all attempts failed and they returned home without any information about him, said a local.

Mr. Ni Ho also said that Ceu Peng could not be contacted for a long time now. Two other Chins who accompanied Ceu Peng also could not be contacted by their family till date.

Some NGOs have estimated that a shocking 70,000 children from Nepal, Bangladesh, Assam, Bihar and Jharkhand are working in these private mines in Megalaya state. There is no official survey but the government has not contradicted the figures mentioned.

Unfortunately, due to the illegal nature of the coalmine mines, the public health system has not been able to reach these areas. There have also been reports of the use of brown sugar and other injectible drugs from the area barely a hundred kilometers from Shillong.

The Kathmandu Post reported on 23 May 2010 that nine Nepali workers were buried alive in a mine in Meghalaya. The victims were hiding in Latumbai coalmine fearing attacks from the indigenous Khasi community. Meghalaya police said all the dead were migrant Nepali workers.- Khonumthung News