Shillong, Jan 31: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday announced the start of scientific mining of coal in Meghalaya following the Centre’s decision to grant approval to three miners from the state.
According to him, the decision to ban coal mining by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2014 should have been ‘just and fair’ and ‘transition based’ since people of the state have been depending their livelihood on such activities for more than 100-200 years.
On Wednesday, three Escrow agreements were signed between the Controller of Coal, Government of India and the project proponents for mining sites at Pyndengshalang, West Khasi Hills, Saryngkham, East Jaintia Hills, and Lumiakhi Wahsarang, East Jaintia Hills.
These agreements are a crucial step toward initiating mining operations.
Sangma had tweeted, “As promised, our government has fulfilled its commitment to securing approval for scientific coal mining operations in the state by working closely with the Ministry of Coal.”
“In addition to these three, 12 more applications are in the advanced stages of approval, and we continue to actively pursue them with the support of the project proponents and the dedicated efforts of the Department of Mining and Geology,” he had said while terming the achievement as a significant stride toward Meghalaya’s progress.
Addressing media persons, the chief minister said, “I am happy to announce and inform all of you which I tweeted last night that we have now got the final approval to open the mines. So now the three miners can open their mines, they can start mining whenever they want, they can start tonight, they can tomorrow, it’s up to them.”
“People asked what happened to the coal mining, we have to answer back. You may say it’s a gimmick (ahead of elections) but then it’s a reply we have to back to the people,” he stated.
Stating that entire procedures were tedious and complicated to get the Centre’s approval for starting the scientific mining after 11 years (of the NGT ban), the CM said, “It was highly challenging for us. Previous governments could not decide on how to move forward with due respect, I am not trying to say they didn’t do anything, it was difficult decision to be very frank but we decided in a way, you know bite the bullet and we went ahead and we challenged in Supreme Court, we got the stay, we got the ban lifted.”
“After that was done, I again repeated we have to go to Coal Ministry to create special provisions to allow mines owned by our people to be mined and licences and permissions to be given. So, a complete new SOP had to be prepared specifically for Meghalaya. Now, with all the necessary permissions from all the different agencies and departments we placed in front of the ministry we got the clearance yesterday. Now these three miners, not anybody else, who have received the clearance, can start mining. So now it’s up to them when when they want to start.”
The chief minister also expressed hope that the beginning of scientific mining of coal will lead to end of illegal mining and transportation of coal in the state.
“Yes, from the government side, that’s exactly what we have been working towards…I am hopeful that this will be the beginning of us seeing the entire sector become more regulated and more systematic and all activities which are not proper will see things decrease and hopefully close down all kind of illegal aspects in the coming days,” he said.
On the other hand, Sangma however reiterated that the decision to ban coal mining should have been just and fair and transition based.
“I reiterate that from the beginning when this entire issue of coal ban took place, one had to realize and I again repeat myself that even when the decision was made it should have been just and fair and transition based. You cannot stop a process of mining that has been going on for the last two centuries and expect people to just stop what they been doing for their livelihood for past 100-200 years,” he said adding “So, therefore, while a process had to be adopted, the agency that had ban the mining that time should have approached by the process of allowing the people to adapt and given them a time to transit into a cleaner process and given them options. So from a government point of view it’s very clear, either you provide the miners the necessary permissions and the process through which they can legally mine or you will find people who were doing what they have been for 200 years and suddenly you take away their livelihood. So obviously there’s going to be a reaction. It’s natural.”
“So it had to be handled with a lot of care, a lot of push has to be put to ensure that the government would clear our files, lots of meetings with central government agencies and ministries, so it’s been very tough. So now we are hopeful that with this happening, that we will now see things smoothen out. We will see things now come to normalcy.”
Stating that nobody wants to follow the illegal way, the CM said, “Even the miners don’t want to do it but as I said since that choice was not there earlier, provisions for their livelihood they would find some way or the other to sustain their livelihood and it was kind of a difficult situation for them and for us also.”
Asked if open cast mining is feasible in a state like Meghalaya, Sangma however said, “As I said, I don’t want to comment on whether it’s open cast or what kind of technology is being used because every mine, every location will have a different mining plan and they will have to go in a scientific manner and they will have to take the approval of the competent agencies identified by government of India to approve their mining plan.”
“What I’m saying is that whatever has been approved and whatever will be implemented will be scientific, will be with the approval and stamp of central agencies and Government of India and therefore it’s going to be as per the norms and as per the scientific provisions that are laid down by expert agencies as well as government of India,” he added.
Meanwhile, the chief minister said that the government is expecting that the revenue from coal would be between Rs 500 to Rs 900 crore annually.
“It’s difficult to say because really we don’t know what kind of productions will take place but going by the past records, the non tax revenue from royalty used to touch anything between 500-600 crores to even sometimes 800-900 crores a year. So we do expect that it should be at that level or higher,” he said.
“But I think it will be too early for me to comment on that, let’s see how it goes because it is a scientific production and you know there could be some limitations, it could take time for them to reach optimum production levels, So we really don’t know how things will go, so let us wait and see but I giving you the numbers which was there in the past, so I’m hoping it should be at that level or maybe even higher,” he stated.
