All Acts and rules related to mining are applicable to the state of Meghalaya, said Shilpa Chohan, Supreme Court advocate while speaking at the dialogue on the state of mining in Meghalaya, associ- ated challenges and the way forward here on Monday.

 

This was revealed following an RTI findings in which, according to the Ministry of Coal, Gov’t of India, it has stated that all acts and rules related to mining are applicable in the state of Meghalaya, she said adding ‘ all the acts and rules are required to be implemented by the state government’. She also informed that state government has not granted any mining leases to any private mine operators in the state so far. Till date 17 leases were granted only to the cement plants in the state in the state.

 

The dialogue was organize by the Centre for Science & Environment and Samrakshan Trust at the Don Bosco Technical  School here with an aim to encourage greater civil society participation in the debate around mining, to move the debate on this subject forward and try and evolve solutions that can be presented to the state government and to actively engage the state government to formulate a plan for the regulation of mining in the state.

 

The participants today have expressed deep apprehension over the control the miniature group wields, which extends right up to the corridors of political power.

Apart from stressing on the need to have a mining policy which is community and environmental friendly, the participants also said that as the government appears to be reluctant to save the degrading environment because of large- scale unlawful mining, civil society should come to the forefront to save whatever little is left. Jaintia hills, as expected, became the subject of debate during the discussion.

 

There is rampant illegal mining of coal and limestone with the rise of cement factories in recent years which led to the degradation of environment and pose huge threat to water sources and attractive caves.

 

Meghalaya Adventures Association ( MAA) general secretary, Brian Kharpran Daly speaking at the gathering said, “ Forest cover is rapidly depleting specially at the Nongkhlieh Ridge, which is bestowed with natural resources and is under severe threat from illegal mining”. HH Mohrmen, a social worker and church leader from Jaintia Hills, said that there was “ complete chaos” in the district due to the huge mineral reserves. “ Although we succeeded in stopping Lafarge from coming to Nongkhlieh and set up its cement factory, we could not stop our own people from continuing with their illegal mining,” he added. Martin Luther Christian university vice chancellor, Glen Kharkongor said, “ Nobody wants to regulate anything because of vested interest groups. We should go straight to the Centre and the Supreme Court to get our grievances redressed,” he added. As the years pass by, there has been a steady increase in the extraction of coal and limestone from the different districts of the state. The coming of cement- making giants has added pressure not only on places which offer coal and limestone, but also water sources like rivers.

 

The extraction of coal in the state started increasing from 1985 onwards and in 2005- 06, the amount of coal extracted annually stood at 5565.7 thousand tons. The royalty collected on coal also jumped from about Rs 38 crore in 1996- 97 to Rs 114 crore in 2007- 08, according to the data provided by the Samrakshan Trust.

“ In the past decade with the coming up of cement factories, limestone mining has also increased. The royalty and dead rent on limestone increased from a mere Rs 75 lakh in 1998- 99 to about Rs 115 crore in 2007- 08,” the data said.

 

However, later the meeting also resolved to form a state level forum which will address the issues pertaining to mining in the state.

 

“ We have decided to form a state level forum to look into the issue concerning mining in the state”, said Arpan Sharma, Chief Functionary of Samrakshan. He also said, ‘ We will workout on the road maps for the forum in the next meeting and would place certain demands before the state government” adding “ We also urge upon all groups to come together under a common platform to address this particular issue.” The meeting today was attended by representatives from KSU, MAA, CSWO, MLCU, ICARE, GHAMCF, Impulse NGO, AJYWO, FST besides others.