State has lost Rs 1800 cr after ban: Conrad

SHILLONG: The state has suffered a loss of revenue worth Rs 1800 crores ever since the National Green Tribunal imposed a ban on rat hole mining some years ago.
Admitting the loss, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that a cumulative note based on certain average numbers that the government took on from the past years’ record and multiplying them with the numbers of years gone by brings the figure to roughly Rs 1800 crore, which is a large amount.
“Of course, these numbers are just estimates and not actual based on the past revenue that we had collected”, he added.
The National Green Tribunal banned coal mining in the state in 2014 due to its unscientific way that was harming the environment.
In July last year, the Supreme Court had allowed coal mining to resume in the state, but ordered that it should be done within the regulatory framework of the MMDR Act, 1957, and the Minerals (Concession) Rules, 1960 besides environmental laws.
Sangma also maintained that the government would slowly be able to move towards more refined ways of mining and more and more people would be able to come back to it.
“Hopefully, the revenue of the state will also go up after that”, he said.
On reports of illegal coal mining and transport still continuing, the chief minister said, “Of course there were some reports, but immediately these were stopped, arrests were made and cases were filed”.
Stating that the administration and police are taking prompt action as it is a serious issue and the state government will not allow such things to happen, the chief minister said, “We are firm on this and taking immediate action on any such information.”