‘Meghalaya should have its own mining policy’

SHILLONG: UDP legislator Jemino Mawthoh has asked the state government to come up with its own mining policy at the earliest.
“We need to have a mining policy that will be an answer to the NGT ban on coal mining. It will help to bail out the people who are suffering due to the ban on coal mining,” Mawthoh said while participating in the debate on the Governor’s Address on Friday.
He also felt that a mining policy will allow the State to use the mineral resources through scientific methods of mining, beneficiation and economic utilization.
The legislator, meanwhile, suggested that the state government should appoint experts to bail out the Mawmluh Cherra Cement Limited (MCCL) from the present crisis.
“MCCL needs experts who are  capable of bringing a turnaround and transforming the unit into a profit making body,” Mawthoh said.
The legislator said that the MCCL is not able to compete with private cement plants since the business of the private cement plants was flourishing, whereas MCCL was not even able to pay the salaries of its staff.
The government needs to do something to ensure that MLCC does not face the same fate as other government agencies which had been closed down, he said.