Ban on coal mining: Hearing on March 10
SHILLONG: The state government has filed a detailed status report to NGT regarding the actions taken against violations of ban on rat coal mining, mining plan and steps to protect the environment and water bodies in the mining sites.
Speaking to The Shillong Times over phone from Delhi, senior counsel of the state government Ranjan Mukherjee said on Tuesday that as per the direction of NGT on December 23, the state government submitted over 200-page detailed report including annexures on various points raised by the green tribunal. The state government had also sought the extension of paying royalty till April 15 so that the transportation of extracted coal can be completed within a period of one month without disturbing the deadline to transport coal fixed for May 15. According to Mukherjee, this will help in collection of more royalty and to reduce the existing stock of coal. He hoped that during the hearing on March 10, the NGT may allow extension of time for payment of royalty. Limestone export The issue of lime stone extraction and export was taken up by NGT on Tuesday in Delhi. While the order of the High Court of Meghalaya on June 30, 2015 said that the Central Empowered Committee will have to decide on granting permission to extract and export lime stones, the High Court subsequently reviewed the matter on November 26 and substituted State Level Impact Assessment Authority instead of Central Empowered Committee for granting permission to extract limestone. Later, there was another petition before the High Court to allow the extraction of limestone as it was traditional way of mining, which was agreed by the Court through an order on January 27 this year.
According to Mukherjee, since the last order is contrary to the first order, the NGT will examine the matter on March 23 to give the final decision.