SHILLONG: In a bid to circumvent the NGT ban on coal mining the Meghalaya Government has come up with a new proposal under which Meghalaya Minerals Development Corporation (MMDC) would undertake coal mining activities on behalf of miners in the State.
Speaking to media persons after holding a consultative meeting with the coal miners here in the city on Wednesday, Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said that the coal miners can tie up with MMDC and proceed towards getting all statutory clearances provided in Section 11 (3) a of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act 1957 under which the allocation of the coal blocks to the State Government Company or Corporation can be done without going into the auction process.
“As per the provisions of Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, State Government owned Corporation or Company can be given mining leases and they are eligible to carry out coal mining. MMDC Ltd, being a State Government Corporation is eligible to get mining leases and to do coal mining,” Sangma said.
Sangma pointed out that as the provisions of the MMDR Act, MMDC can carry out coal mining on behalf of the miners by entering into an arrangement which is mutually acceptable to the land owners and MMDC and a revenue sharing model can be structured between the two.
With this new idea, individual mine owners have to willingly approach MMDC Ltd. for taking up mining of coal and they will have to allow their land to be utilised by MMDC Ltd. temporarily for the lease period to enable MMDC to obtain mining lease over that area for mining of coal.
“We have an opening and we can move forward and follow other procedures as per statutory requirements which will be complied with and mining activities can be restored,” Sangma told reporters.
According to Sangma, since there was a need to regulate mining activities after the Coal Mines Nationalization Act, 1973 came into existence, the State Government had engaged with the Union Government which in turn had communicated to the Meghalaya Government that it would not interfere and dislocate mining activities in the State. However, the Central Government asked the State to make endeavours for scientific mining besides advising Meghalaya Government to utilise MMDC or Coal India to fulfil the requirements of statutory obligations pertaining to safety and health.
Sangma said that since nothing much happened, Meghalaya Government came up with the Meghalaya Mines and Mineral Policy in 2012 to regulate mining activities but there were problems because a number of central laws came in the way. Sangma said that the Meghalaya Government had pursued with the Government of India to restore the rights of people over minerals by invoking para 12 (a) (b) of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and a resolution in this regard was also passed by the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
“Waiting for the finalization of the proposal is a tough job as it has dislocated a number of activities and many small scale industries in Meghalaya and even in North India up to Punjab have been affected due to the stoppage in supply of coal from Meghalaya,” Sangma said.
Earlier, while addressing the consultative meeting, Mukul Sangma said that the whole issue of ban on coal mining has been politicized and people have fished in troubled waters to such an extent that even lives have been lost.
During the consultative meeting, the stakeholders comprising coal miners were also given a presentation about the new proposal of the government and how it could be made to work.
During the meeting, it was also informed that similar exercises would be undertaken in other parts of the State.
During the meeting, two modes of operation of MMDC were also proposed including sub leasing and mine developer cum operator (MDO) model.
Under sub-leasing, all capital investment for mining operations will have to be borne by the sub-lessee who has to adhere to all the conditions laid down for scientific mining including afforestation etc., besides all investment and operational part of mining are in the control of the sub-lessee.
Under the MDO model, mine owners will have to approach MMDC voluntarily and enter into a tripartite agreement with MMDC Ltd. & MDO (in case of MDO model).
The MDO would also finance the mine start-up costs thus freeing up the mine owner from initial start up investment for operating the mines apart from bringing a strong mining plan and operational expertise.
