NEW DELHI: In a major blow to Meghalaya, the Centre has refused to exempt the state form the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act unless the state ensures environment friendly, safe, secure and scientific mining of coal.
“At this stage, there is no plan to exempt Meghalaya from certain provisions of the MMDR Act 1957 by way of issuance of Presidential notification under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution,” Union Minister for coal and mines Prahlad Joshi informed Shillong MP Vincent H Pala in a written answer in Lok Sabha.
Pala wanted to know specifically whether the Union government is planning to exempt Meghalaya from the purview of MMDR Act in the Sixth Schedule areas of the state which is a long standing demand.
Like the previous Congress- led government under which the National Green Tribunal had banned coal mining, the present MDA government is also insisting that the state should be exempted from the mining clause since it comes in conflict with the traditional tribal rights.
The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution in support of the demand which was presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others while the matter is pending with the Supreme Court.
Interestingly, even during the tenure of the previous government, the Centre had sent a written commitment that it has given its consent for exemption to Meghalaya in case of only coal and lignite.
This commitment was made in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court in response to a petition filed by Lber Laloo, who is fighting the case since 2015 which was widely reported in the media.
Pala said the present stand of the Centre is contradictory to the earlier stand.
The report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) for 2013 had pointed out that the activities of the Meghalaya mining and geology department are limited to collection of royalty on export of coal and limestone outside the state.
“This practice is being followed on the basis of a letter from then Union minister of energy in July 1987 to the then Meghalaya chief minister stating that the Centre had no desire or intention to disturb the customary tribal rights,” the report had said.
It had also pointed out that coal mining in the state is in violation of the MMDR Act. However, no action had been taken to ascertain the number of miners in the state or to force them to obtain a mining lease as required under the act and the rules.
The Supreme Court has allowed transportation of extracted coal from time to time, but the ban continues till date.
The tragic accident in the illegal coal mine at Ksan had given a new twist to the whole issue.
