SHILLONG: The state cabinet on Tuesday finalised the guidelines for the operation of Meghalaya Environment Protection and Restoration Fund.
Speaking to media persons after the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the Meghalaya government has opened an account in the name of Meghalaya Environment Protection and Restoration Fund in a nationalised bank and 10 per cent of the market value of coal per metric tonne is being collected from the transportation of the already extracted coal as allowed by the Supreme Court.
Informing that Rs 445 crore has been accrued in the fund, he added that the government would have to give Rs 100 crore to the Central Pollution Control Board as per the Supreme Court order of July 3 this year.
According to Sangma, the fund which would be transferred to Central Pollution Control Board will be used in Meghalaya for which different committees have been setup and guidelines set. The fund will be implemented in 13-14 areas and it will be used for reclamation of abandoned mines by involving reputed institutes, restoration of ecology damaged by the coal mining, closure of abandoned coal mines, drinking water, awareness programmes and sealing of the coal mines shaft in river beds.
Reacting to a query about the status of the policy on auctioning of coal, he said that the government has already finished the policy two months back based on the Supreme Court ruling.
“Based on the rules, we were ready for the transportation of coal, we put the policy before BP Katakey Committee and it postponed the meeting three times and the last meeting was inconclusive,” he said.
Cabinet awaits Katakey decision
The chief minister also said that the government is waiting for the Katakey panel to give its final approval after which the government will go ahead with the entire process.
“The guidelines are set and it is just a question of the approval of the committee,” he said even as he added that the government has not received any document about the resignation of Katakey from the NGT panel.
