Shillong | July 21, 2016: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) today set a four-week deadline for the Centre and the Meghalaya government to finalise a mining plan for the state.
The state government's legal counsel, Ranjan Mukherjee, said over phone from Delhi that the tribunal had asked the state government and the Union ministries of environment, forest and climate change and coal to hold a meeting to finalise the mining plan/policy and guidelines within four weeks from today.
The tribunal observed that all the mining projects in the state were at a "standstill", which could have serious consequences on the environment as well as the state's economy.
It pulled up the ministry of environment and forests for the delay in preparing a report on the Meghalaya mining plan and instead seeking opinion of an expert body, reports PTI from New Delhi.
"Is this a joke? You (the ministry) are the regulatory authority and you do nothing. You just seek reports from experts. We do not understand why you do not do this yourself. Do not use our orders for escaping from responsibility," a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said. "Why cannot you do it yourself? For every small thing you need a consultant," the bench said and directed the ministry to inform it about the mining policy and plan.
The bench made this observation after the counsel appearing for the ministry said it had sought the opinion of an expert body, which carries out research and development programme in environmental science and technology.
Asked about the status of the mining plan, Mukherjee told this correspondent that the state government had sent the same to the coal ministry, which had sent it back for re-consideration in view of certain "deficiencies".
He said the tribunal also wanted to know from the state government how it planned to dispose of the remaining tonnes of extracted and assessed coal, which were yet to be transported.
"I informed the tribunal that around 30,12,309 metric tonnes of coal was yet to be disposed of after the transportation window was closed," he added.
A few months ago, the tribunal had directed that no coal would be permitted for transportation after May 15 and had fixed March 31 as the last date for payment of royalty after the state government said if the extracted coal is not transported before the monsoon, it might pollute the rivers.
"No coal, in any form whatsoever, shall be permitted to be transported after May 15 on which date, the entire remaining coal shall vest in the state government and shall be disposed of in accordance with law and subject to due protection and care for environment and prevention of pollution resulting from either by washing of coal or by transportation," the NGT had ordered.
Mukherjee said the government had three options for dealing with the remaining coal: it could either auction or sell it in the open market or request the NGT to re-open the transportation window. Whatever it decides, the state government will have to file an affidavit on how it plans to dispose of the remaining coal within two weeks, he added.
Meanwhile, Mukherjee said, the government had collected a royalty on the extracted and assessed coal to the tune of Rs 310 crore and Rs 221 crore towards the Meghalaya environmental restoration fund between February 2015 and April 2016.
The NGT will again hear the matter on issues related to coal mining in the state on August 30.
(Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/)