ITANAGAR, July 2 - The Arunachal Pradesh Government has decided to resume mining in the Namchik-Namphuk coalfield in the troubled Changlang district following a Supreme Court judgement.
The all-important decision to resume coal mining at Namchik-Namphuk, the operation of which has remained suspended since May 2012, was taken in a review meeting of the Geology and Mining Department held by Chief Minister Pema Khandu with department officers here on Monday.
Further, the Chief Minister gave a go-ahead signal for �settling the matter by deciding to pay additional levy of Rs 32 crore imposed by the Ministry of Coal�.
This decision will help revive the Arunachal Pradesh Mineral Development and Trading Corporation Ltd, a Government of Arunachal Pradesh undertaking entrusted with mining in the Namchik-Namphuk area.
The meeting also acknowledged that due to the effort of the State Government, Arunachal Pradesh was able to get the forest clearance for a petroleum mining lease for 13 oil wells, which had been pending for the last 14 years.
The officials stated that the State Government will be able to earn revenue of Rs 15 crore out of all the oil wells, which will be run by Oil India Ltd. Issues related to manpower shortage and boosting of revenue generation by the Geology and Mining Department were also discussed during the meeting.
The meeting also discussed matters related to strengthening the staff position in the department, and ways to curb illegal mining and empower the department to increase revenue generation.