Shillong,Dec 3: The court appointed coal committee headed by former Judge BP Katakey has called for aerial survey to find out illegal mining of coal besides the closure of abandoned mines.
The committee made the observations in the 26th report submitted to the court.
In a related order, the High Court of Meghalaya refused to cancel the goverment order to have100 hectares for prospecting license for coal mining.
In the order passed on Monday, the bench headed by Justice HS Thangkhiew said, “Though the area by the SOP has been fixed at 1 sq. km. that is 100 hectares, the proposal to reduce the minimum area to 50 hectares, was left open to be examined technically in future, as such, it is not that the prescription of 100 hectares is final, and not subject to review by the State Government.”
Summary of Recommendations of Katakey
The committee of Katakey , in view of what has been observed, summarized its
recommendations as under :
(i)
Immediate implementation of the decision to conduct the aerial survey for
finding out of the availability of illegally mined coal outside the designated
depots and also other than the coal already seized under the provisions of
MMDR Act, 1957, as availability of such coal would indulge in continued
illegal coal mining activities including mining, sale and transportation and
also to take appropriate actions under the provisions of MMDR Act, 1957 by
the concerned authorities so that such coal could be seized and sold in
public auction and are not in the hands of the persons dealing with illegally
coal mining activities.
(ii)
Completion of the entire process of sealing of the mine openings on war
footing and on a phased manner, there being thousands of mine openings
(in East Jaintia Hills District itself there are more than 22000 mine openings
as found by the North Eastern Science Application Centre (NESAC), in
respect of which the Committee has already submitted an interim report
before this Hon’ble Court), either abandoned or active or which can be
activated within a very short time, having regard to the importance of
closure of such mine openings, which is required to prevent further illegal
coal mining activities including mining and transportation. The process of
actual sealing of the mine openings may take a very long time if such
process is not started effectively and diligently on war footing.
(iii)
Initiation of an administrative inquiry by the Chief Secretary to the Govt. of
Meghalaya for finding out the reason for not mentioning the quantum of
coal allowed to be brought from the outside the State of Meghalaya in the order dated 08/12/2022 issued by the Mining and Geology Department,
Govt. of Meghalaya and also relating to the extension of the period of transportation by the then Deputy Commissioner, South Garo Hills District and to take appropriate administrative action with intimation to the Committee.
(v) Strict compliance of the provisions of Meghalaya Mineral (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and storage) Rules, 2022 and the SoP, 2024,notified on 05/11/2024, while granting the approval for bringing the coal originated outside the State of Meghalaya to Meghalaya or to export such coal to Bangladesh through Meghalaya or to any other States of India. Such approval granted must specifically mentioned about the quantity of coal permitted to be brought from outside the State of Meghalaya for the aforesaid purpose and also the time limit within which the transportation of coal reached its final destination /passed through designated Land Custom station. In no circumstances neither the quantity of coal approved to be brought from outside the State nor the time limit set for transportation of coal shall be allowed to be extended by any other authority other than the appropriate authority in Mining and Geology Department of Govt. of Meghalaya.
(v)
Immediate sale of the coal seized under the provisions of MMDR Act, 1957,
by obtaining necessary permission from the concerned Court, if not already
obtained.
(vi)
Immediate shifting of the coal seized under the provisions of MMDR Act to
the Centralized depot, upon obtaining necessary permission from the
concerned Court so that such seized coal does not disappear either because
of the theft or otherwise.
(vii) Cnduct of further auction by the Coal India Limited of the remaining reverified/re-assessed inventoried coal, immediately, in terms of the order
dated 03/07/2019 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
(viii) Urgent implementation of approved schemes prepared by the various
departments of the Govt. of Meghalaya so as to offer alternative source of livelihood to the coal miners, so that the possibility of continued illegal coal mining activities in the State could be avoided, as the coal miners may continue to indulge illegal activities for earning their livelihood. The Oversight Committee constituted by the NGT therefore, needs to take up this issue urgently.
