SC restored people’s rights over land, minerals: MDA ministers

SHILLONG: Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Friday asserted that the Supreme Court lifting the ban on coal mining is in the right direction as far as protection to coal owners and environment is concerned.
Echoing his views, Forest and Environment Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said the apex court has reaffirmed the rights of people over land and minerals and the order in this context is historic.
Countering the allegations of Opposition leader Mukul Sangma that auctioning of extracted coal by Coal India Limited is a big blow to the state, Tynsong added that the riders by the court are in fact good for the state.
“It is not a blow but good for the state government as the Supreme Court has said that extracted coal will be handed over to Coal India for auction and after selling it, auction money will be transferred to state exchequer and then to mine owners”, Tynsong said
According to Tynsong, the panel constituted by the National Green Tribunal will work out the modalities as to whether the extracted coal, which is scattered in different parts of the state, should be auctioned separately or brought to one place.
Rymbui said the order will result in responsible mining while another significant aspect is that unlike other parts of the country Meghalaya will be exempted from auctioning coal when mining starts.
He said the government can still plead with the Centre to make MMDR Act not applicable to Meghalaya.
According to Rymbui, it is also up to the government to explore ways and means to simplify the process of submission of mining plan.
To a question, Tynsong denied the allegation of Mukul that the government took a U-turn on the MMDR Act.
“We passed a resolution and reconfirmed it last year and we pleaded before the government of India to exempt Meghalaya from MMDR Act as we knew that all major minerals do not belong to state government but to the Union government and now the Supreme Court has confirmed that land and minerals belong to the land owners,” he said
He also lauded the lawyers saying the argument made by the government lawyers in the Supreme Court was good and they did their homework very well besides collecting all information about traditional practice and land tenure system in the state.
“It is a big relief to the people of the state,” he said while questioning how Mukul Sangma termed it is a U-turn.”
He also said that all the affidavits filed by the state government were positive and it wanted to go for exemption, but the Supreme Court gave a historic judgment saying that land belongs to the people of Meghalaya.
“Supreme Court is convinced that the land belongs to the people because of the affidavits of the state government, lawyers and central government,” he added.
Miners to be affected
Meanwhile, Opposition chief whip and Congress MLA PT Sawkmie said that they welcome the verdict of the court but the fact that mining has to be done as per the MMDR Act will create problems for the small time miners in the state.
He also said the Congress during its tenure in the state was seeking exemption from Coal Mines Act, the MMDR Act and others for which resolution was also adopted in the Assembly.