Assessment work incomplete in West Khasi Hills, South Garo Hills
SHILLONG: The new Committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal to deal with the transportation of extracted coal submitted its report to the Tribunal on Friday, a day ahead of the August 30 deadline.
The head of the Committee, Additional Chief Secretary K.S. Kropha said on Friday that the report was sent to NGT after assessment of the extracted coal in six districts barring South Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills where more time would be required to complete the assessment work.
The committee assessed six million tons of coal to be transported as per the guidelines of NGT.
The Committee also followed the guidelines prescribed by NGT on measures to be taken while transporting the extracted coal.
The mode of transportation of the extracted coal should take into account the safety of the transporters and the general public, besides taking care of environmental concerns, the NGT guidelines state.
There should be two check-points en route transportation of the extracted coal from the point of loading to the point of destination.
In addition, there should be an exclusively devoted check point at the borders of Bangladesh and Assam. Both the government and the coal miners will have to maintain records while transporting coal, the NGT order states.
The transportation of extracted coal lying near the mines will be allowed only for a period of three months and NGT would consider extending the period or passing of such other directions at a subsequent stage.
NGT had said that the authorities should ensure that the trucks carrying or transporting coal are not overloaded.
The transportation of coal should be done in a scientific way and the trucks should be fully covered to ensure that coal dust do not cause pollution.
Besides, the State Government and all its authorities will have to fix weighing machines at all exit points from Meghalaya, particularly towards Assam and Bangladesh.
The new Committee got an extension after the NGT, during its August 1 hearing in Shillong, had initially asked the Committee to submit its report within two weeks.
Later, in a fresh order issued on August 12, the NGT bench said that the Committee should submit the report by August 30.
It was after scrapping the previous Committee headed by Director of Mines, R.P. Marak, for its inability to comply with the NGT directive, that the fresh Committee was constituted by the NGT to complete the task.
Besides Kropha, other members of new Committee include Principal Secretary, Forest, M.S. Rao, Dr. S.S. Bala, Senior Scientist, Central Pollution Control Board, P. Gupta, Member Secretary, Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board and Prof. Mohammad Jawed of IIT, Guwahati.