Shillong | Aug 30, 2016: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) today gave a "final opportunity" to the Centre to come up with mining guidelines for Meghalaya while the state government batted for reopening of the transportation window as one of the options to dispose of the remaining coal.

The tribunal, while taking into consideration the draft proposals of the State Coordination Committee of Coal Owners, Miners and Dealers Forum, Meghalaya, on the mining guidelines/plan, gave a final opportunity to the Union ministries of coal and environment, forest and climate change to come up with the same.

Informing this over phone from New Delhi, the Meghalaya government's legal counsel Ranjan Mukherjee said, "I submitted before the tribunal that the draft mining guidelines were given by the state government to the Union ministries of coal and environment, forest and climate change a long time ago. These guidelines are very comprehensive." #On disposal of the remaining extracted and assessed coal, which is yet to be transported, Mukherjee said he has proposed three options. "I have suggested that the remaining coal should be auctioned or sold or the tribunal can reopen the transportation window so that the coal can be disposed of."

According to the advocate, around 30 lakh metric tonnes of coal is yet to be transported and for this he has suggested that the tribunal fix the date from October 1, 2016 to May 2017.

"During these months, there will be no rainfall and it will be conducive for transportation. The government will also be able to earn revenue through royalty. Besides, the miners will have to deposit money towards the Meghalaya Environmental Restoration Fund," he said.

The tribunal will again hear the matter on October 5, the legal counsel said.

On the petition filed in the Supreme Court by Hima Nongstoin Landowners, Coal Traders and Producers Association, Mukherjee said the apex court had heard the matter yesterday and had fixed September 14 as the next date of hearing. "We can either appeal to the Supreme Court to allow the transportation of the remaining coal or to give a direction to the tribunal to permit the transportation of the residual amount of coal," he said.

The NGT had imposed an interim ban on coal mining in Meghalaya in April 2014. However, at intervals, it allowed transportation of extracted and assessed coal under strict guidelines. Though the ban on mining and transportation is on, several cases of violation of the tribunal's orders have been reported from various parts of the state.

(Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/)