Oct 30 deadline to submit coal policy
SHILLONG: A member of the NGT panel has resigned unhappy over the recommendation of the sub-committee headed by Commissioner and Secretary, Mining and Geology T. Dkhar that mechanised mining is not possible in Meghalaya.
AK Singh from Indian School of Mines has decided not to be part of the NGT panel.
The sub-committee had visited Bokaro coal mining areas of TATA in Jharkhand on August 23 and observed that mechanised mining with small coal seam is not possible in all areas of Meghalaya. Other members of the committee were Naba Bhattacharjee and Shantanu Kumar Dutta.
Dutta is also part of the three-member panel of the main NGT panel headed by retired Judge B P Katakey.
After the resignation of Singh, a new member from the Indian School of Mines was appointed.
An official source said on Friday that the NGT committee could not take any decision regarding the pending issues in the absence of the full team.
When contacted, Katakey said that no decision was taken by the committee on Friday though the panel had earlier directed the state government to finalise the coal auction policy by October 30.
The Coal India Limited will hold a meeting on the policy on October 23 following which a report will be submitted to the NGT panel for its approval.
Katakey said the government had objected to certain observations of the committee including the need to find out the source of the 32 lakh metric tons of already extracted coal.
Besides, the panel had also asked the government to probe the illegal transportation of coal to Bangladesh based on a report by the Customs.
While the state government had said only three challans were issued by the land customs station at Gasuapara in South Garo Hills district in May for exporting coal to Bangladesh, the report of the Customs department was that its personnel allowed 461 trucks to enter Bangladesh.
The government only provided details of the break-up of extracted coal instead of initiating probe into the transportation of coal to Bangladesh.
Another meeting will be held by the NGT panel on November 11 and12 to discuss the pending issues and coal auction policy.