‘Scientific coal mining norms not feasible for Meghalaya’s small miners’
Shillong, June 30: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday said the state will take up with the Centre the need to amend the MMDR Act or frame new provisions to make scientific coal mining feasible for Meghalaya’s small miners, noting that the current open cast model requires large tracts and heavy investment.
Sangma said he will raise the matter with the Union Home Minister and Mining Minister.
“I will be meeting the Union Home Minister and Mining Minister with regards to mining issues that are there in our state,” he said after a cabinet meeting.
While the ban on coal has been lifted and scientific mining cleared by Coal India and the Union Mining Ministry, he said ground realities are different for local operators.
“Though the ban on coal has been lifted and though there is approval for scientific mining in our state, which has been given by Coal India and by the Mining Ministry and other agencies, the challenge we face is that the open cast mining, which is what scientific mining requires at this point in time, is something which is not working out in terms of financial feasibility for our miners,” Sangma said.
He explained that most miners cannot meet the scale required.
“Because for most of our miners, the land size is big, the investments are huge, and the seam level is also a factor. So there has been concern from our miners that smaller mines should be allowed,” he said.
The state government has been studying technologies proposed by miners to address the issue.
“We have been working on this in the past, we have been looking at different technologies, and the miners have presented very suitable technology to us. We are going to share this with the Government of India,” he said, adding, “We hope that we get a positive response.” However, Sangma cautioned that national standards complicate quick fixes.
“But as I said, it is not as simple as we want because there are standards at the national level. We may need to change the MMDR Act, amend it, or make different changes, or find other ways through which we are able to find a solution to this,” he said. Terming coal mining a critical issue for Meghalaya, he assured continued engagement with Delhi.
“Keeping in line with the different needs of our people, this is a very important subject for us. Therefore, like we have done in the past, we will continue to take up the matter,” he said.
Sangma noted that while some open cast scientific mines have begun production, wider coverage needs policy tweaks.
“Though, as I said, we have scientific mining—yes, scientific mines are coming up which are open cast and have started producing—but in order to be able to go large scale and to be able to give the benefit to all our miners, we need to work a bit harder to get the different provisions at the Delhi level and in the MMDR Act to be done,” he added.
