Shillong: Even as the High Court continues to slam the government’s failure to act on rampant illegal coal mining activities in the state, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma hinted that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ban was too sudden.
Sangma made the comment when interacting with the media after attending the inaugural function of the G20 conclave on the theme ‘Nature Solves’.
In 2014, the NGT banned illegal mining and transportation of coal in Meghalaya.
According to Sangma the ban should have allowed a justified transition time for people in the state who have been mining coal for a livelihood since the last 200 years. He said that unless alternate forms of earning are provided, coal miners will keep going back to the illegal practice.
“The only long term solution to put an end to such activities is having a legal policy and that has been done. Scientific mining has been introduced. The other option is to create more alternatives for livelihood,” said the chief minister.
Asked if the NGT ban was inhuman, Sangma said that the authorities did what they had to.
“At the end of the day, this kind of decisions need to be taken,” Sangma asserted, adding that the ban should have come in phases to allow transition.
“I would see 5 years as a period where we stop certain activities, another 5 years to transit into new technology and another 5 years to stop everything completely,” he explained.
Stating that for people who have been mining for hundreds of years, being compelled to stop mining suddenly and adopt new alternatives is a challenge and they go back to their old ways now and then. “We have been seeing the trickle effects of that in the last 10 years,” mentioned Sangma.
On being asked if drones could used to map coal mining, Sangma said that it is easier said than done since the area to be mapped is vast.
He stated that the government would require a huge number of drones and that in the past drone technology was used to map the entire stock of legal or illegal coal.
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Having said that drone technology could be an option to map mining activities, stated that its implementation would require extensive finances and manpower.
Notably, 4 miners in the state have been permitted to start scientific mining. Sangma said that details are being worked out and within few months scientific mining would be starting.
Also Read | Coal mining to resume in Meghalaya after 9 years: CM