Shillong, May 2: The Centre has approved mining lease to four miners- Nehlang Lyngdoh, Thomas Nongtdu, Wenni Diengngan and Maksing Sibren Nongbri- but the next process is to get the approval of their mining plans, seek environment clearance besides applying for consent to operate from the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board followed by public hearing.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma told reporters on Tuesday that the public hearing, forest clearance and mining plan approval are procedural aspects, which the government is expecting to complete within 45 days.
“After these approvals, the green signals for starting scientific mining is through”, he said.
The chief minister admitted that the actual implementation will have to be done by the respective miners on the technology to be implemented as per the mining plan.
“But my point is that the moment the lease was given, that is very important step as after that as I said we have crossed the most difficult hurdles and now we are on our way to see the process of scientific and legal mining started in our state”, he added.
Negative growth in GDP
An official statement said that with the NGT ban in April 2014, the state suffered a negative growth of (-) 59.36% according to GSDP at constant prices in 2014-15 thereby affecting the GSDP as a whole, to register a negative growth of (-) 2.82%. Contraction of GSDP came as a big blow to Meghalaya’s ambitions of achieving its revenue collection targets.
The statement said that as part of scientific mining, reclamation of coal mining areas and use of advanced technologies, such as remote sensing, aerial surveys, and 3D modelling, would be prioritised and environmental impact would be mitigated significantly.
Miners to felicitate CM, ministers
The chief minister and other ministers of the MDA-2 government will also be felicitated by miners at Nongstoin this week.
“The miners who received the mining lease have invited us to a small programme where they would like to felicitate myself and other ministers of the government in a way to showcase their gratitude towards the efforts that were made by the government in ensuring that we reach to this point,” he added.
The chief minister held a meeting on on Tuesday with the officials of Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDIL), Forest and Mining Departments to work towards implementing plans for mine reclamation.
