Over 2 lakh MT yet to be sold

SHILLONG: With the deadline to transport the already extracted coal ending on Thursday, the government or the coal mining bodies are yet to file any application seeking extension.
Ranjan Mukherjee, Supreme Court lawyer and counsel for the state government, said on Wednesday that the parties concerned have not filed any applications for extension.
A government source said out of nearly 5 lakh metric tonne of extracted coal that was lying on the surface as on March 28 this year when the Supreme Court extended the deadline till May 31, over 2 lakh metric tonne still remains to be transported.
Since the Supreme Court is on vacation from May 21 to July 2, the application, if any, can be filed only in July.
From November 12, 2014, following the nod to transport the extracted coal, the revenue collected in terms of royalty will be in the range of Rs 850-950 crore.
From March 25, 2015, when the concept of Meghalaya Environment Protection and Restoration Fund (MEPRF) was introduced, the money collected under this will be around Rs 550 crore.