22,000 mines in East Jaintia Hills alone, Govt working overtime: CM
Shillong, May 7: Closing abandoned coal mines in Meghalaya is a massive challenge due to manpower constraints, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said on Thursday while pointing out existence of 22,000 mines in East Jaintia Hills district.
“We maintained from the beginning that there is a large number of mines. East Jaintia Hills alone has 22,000 mines. That is there in their report itself,” Sangma said, responding to queries on mine closure, on Thursday.
Citing limitation of the authorities in enforcing mine closure, he said the existing manpower can handle mine closure at 5,000 or 6,000 locations in one go.
“There are still 15,000 (left) which becomes difficult for us to do,” he said.
Stating that monitoring was a persistent hurdle, he said, “As soon as we shift from that 5,000 and try to get to another 5,000, back in the first 5,000 we were monitoring, the activity could start,” he said.
“So, it is not as simple as it sounds. What is important is we are committed, we are sincere in our efforts. The administration is working overtime. We have shifted manpower from that district to other districts to help them and support them in this…”
“We will continue to ensure that all steps are taken from the government side, so that all the rules and regulations and orders from the court are adhered to,” he added.
