Certain legal aspects need to be incorporated: Mukul
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Meghalaya, which does not have a mining policy till date, will have to wait further as the State Cabinet on Monday night deferred the finalisation of the much-awaited policy saying that certain legal aspects need to be incorporated in it.
Briefing reporters after a five-hour-long Cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma said the Mining and Geology department gave an exhaustive presentation on the proposed mining policy during the meeting.
“But we (the Cabinet) felt that certain exercise needs to be initiated to fine tune the policy”, Dr Sangma said.
The policy was earlier expected to be tabled in the Assembly during the upcoming Budget session which is scheduled to start from March 9.
Certain regulatory aspects of the policy had not been completed, he said adding there was a need to incorporate certain regulations and legal point of views in the proposed mining policy.
It is learnt that the Department has already incorporated the views and suggestions of the concerned stakeholders in the final draft of the Mining Policy.
Asked about the foreign direct investment in the mining sector, Dr Sangma said, “Whatever points need to be incorporated in the policy will be taken care of before the government finally adopts it.”
Though the Chief Minister did not elaborate on the exact reason for the delay in finalizing the mining policy, sources here hinted that with the State Assembly election due in February next the government wants to go slow on this issue.
“The government does not want to take any decision which might antagonize the mine owners. The same is the case with the limestone mining,” sources said.
Though the draft mining policy suggested that there should not be any mining activities near the caves, the government is buying time before imposing any restriction on the mining activities of the cement companies near the caves, sources said.
It may be mentioned here that the final draft of the policy was scheduled to be submitted to the State Government in July last year but due to opposition from coal miners and limestone miners of the State under the umbrella of the Joint Forum on Mining Policy (Coal and Limestone), the submission had been delayed.