NGT to decide on extracted coal after fortnight, awaits mining plan

SHILLONG: The NGT on Thursday gave two weeks’ time for the state government to indicate the options to clear over 30 lakh metric tonnes of already extracted coal even as directions were given to both the Centre and state to finalize the mining plan within four weeks.
Supreme Court lawyer and state counsel Ranjan Mukherjee said over phone that during the hearing on Thursday, the NGT was informed about the already extracted coal worth Rs 1,550 crore still to be transported.
According to Mukherjee, the order of NGT on May 10 this year had said that the remaining coal is vested with the state government and it can be auctioned off.
However, Mukherjee said that there are three options to deal with the situation– one is to auction off the coal and another is to sell the coal in the open market while the third option is to extend the date for payment of royalty and transportation of already extracted coal.
After hearing the matter, the NGT has given 14 days to the state government to indicate the status and file affidavit regarding the already extracted coal.
At the same time, the NGT has given four weeks time to the state government, the Union Ministry of Coal and the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest to finalize the mining plan, mining guidelines and mining policy.
The next date of hearing would be on August 30.
During the hearing, the NGT was unhappy over the delay in finalizing the mining plan, mining guidelines and mining policy.
However, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest said that there were certain deficiencies in the mining plan submitted by the state government and the ministry had also communicated the matter to the concerned government in the past to rectify the said deficiencies.