Ending 200-year-old rat-hole mining will take time: Meghalaya CM
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma highlighted the challenges of enforcing the 2014 NGT ban on rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya, citing the transition to safer mining
Inside a coal mine in Meghalaya (Source: @RahulSeeker / X)
Shillong, Dec 10: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today said that rat-hole coal mining has been practised in Meghalaya for two centuries and therefore, this activity, which now stands illegal, is not easy for the people involved in it to give up. Sangma said 200 years before 2014, rat-hole coal mining had sustained lakhs of families in the State.
Rat-hole coal mining has been banned by an order of the National Green Tribunal in 2014 as it causes damage to the environment and the flora and fauna. Moreover, these dangerous mines have caused loss of lives in the State.
“Trying to implement this (ban) mandate is very complicated, keeping in mind the history of 200 years,” the Chief Minister said. Nonetheless, the Government has acted on reports of such illegal mining and “thousands of cases have been registered,” he added.
Sangma stated that the alternative to rat-hole mining is scientific mining, which has been given approval. Some mines have been leased out in the State and scientific coal mining is going on, he added.
The Chief Minister said that transition from rat-hole mining to scientific and safer mining is taking place, but it will take time and cannot occur suddenly.
“People have to invest, adapt, file for different procedures , and get permission from the UNion Coal Ministry and the State Government. So it is going to take time,” Sangma said.