Shillong: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday said he was yet to examine the report of the single-member committee headed by retired Justice BP Katakey on the state’s coal inventory and the status of abandoned rat-hole mines.
Asked about the reported inventory of 13,02,456.184 metric tonnes of coal and the finding that no abandoned rat-hole mine had been closed or fenced, Sangma said he would need to review the report before commenting on the figures.
However, he said the utilisation of funds through the Meghalaya Environment Protection and Restoration Fund (MEPRF) was underway, although implementation remained complicated by procedures laid down by the Centre and the courts.
“Closure of mines, fencing maybe not, but closure of mines, the pilot projects are under process,” he said, adding that the government expected to receive the necessary clearances soon.
Meanwhile, the state government is seeking to make scientific coal mining accessible to smaller operators by proposing to reduce the minimum mining area from 100 hectares to five or 10 hectares.
Sangma said a committee constituted by the Union coal ministry and headed by an additional secretary visited Meghalaya last week to inspect mining sites and interact with miners to assess the feasibility of the proposal.
The chief minister said the state had held three to four meetings with the committee and submitted detailed proposals on mining techniques that could be adopted in smaller areas while ensuring worker safety and environmental protection.
One of the proposed methods is the pillar-and-post system, in which pillars are left in place to support the mine roof and reduce the risk of collapse. Sangma said suitable support structures could improve safety, adding that similar technologies were being used in other parts of the world.
He said the committee’s visit was intended to assess the proposed methods on the ground, expressing hope that the exercise would help advance scientific mining and enable small-scale miners to operate legally.
Sangma reiterated that worker safety and environmental protection remained the primary considerations in determining how scientific mining could be implemented in smaller areas.
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