Meghalaya: Scientific coal mining to begin in state soon, 4 miners to get licences

In a major win for the state, the chief minister of Meghalaya Conrad K Sangma on January 16 informed that the GOI has approved the geological reports submitted by four miners or applicants and the state is nearing a step forward towards now opening up the mining in a scientific manner.

Sangma said that it was only after this government came into power that they took it upon themselves to lift the ban imposed in 2014.

"This was a very long and tedious process as it required us to, first of all, lift the ban, and create the SOPs, once done we needed to proceed with that forward. There were certain terms and conditions that were laid down by the government of India which we had to fulfil and the miners had to fulfil, perspective licenses had to be done geological reports and surveys had to be made. And all of these issues had really a lot of work to be put into but as I said now we are at the final stage where very soon despite the first four mining licenses will be contented to the landowners and to the licensees who are the local residents so that scientific mining can start," said Sangma.

Also Read: Meghalaya: NPP chief slams Congress for doing nothing to reverse ban on coal mining

Meanwhile, till now only four miners have been shortlisted to get licences- Kalagaw block, Nehlang Block, Saryngkham A Block and Pyndengshahlang Block respectively.

Notably, the move is expected to impact small miners, however, the state government is likely to bring in amendments at an appropriate time.

Earlier, the National People's Party (NPP) on Sunday, January 15 criticised the Congress party for taking no fruitful steps to reverse the ban on coal mining, which halted the state's most important source of revenue generation. 

NPP chief  W R Kharlukhi further stated that the party is making every effort to begin scientific mining of the mineral after the Supreme Court lifted the ban in July 2019.

"In 2014, the National Green Tribunal banned coal mining in our state, ordering that scientific mining be implemented in Meghalaya. Since then, neither the federal nor state governments have taken any steps to initiate scientific mining in the state," said NPP state president W R Kharlukhi.