By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 26: The High Court of Meghalaya has directed the state government to file a report explaining the source of coal used by ferro-alloy, cement and coke industries in Meghalaya.
The court’s directive was based on a submission by one of the petitioners that despite a direction by the court on August 10, 2023 for the state to look into the other industries using the illegally-mined coal in their functioning, the government is yet to come out with a report.
The Advocate-General, appearing for the state, submitted that even such aspect of the matter is being monitored by Justice (retired) BP Katakey and certain anomalies have been noticed by the state in how the ferro-alloy industry, the cement industry and the coke industry obtain their supplies of coal, following which the court gave the government one week’s time to file its report.
The state informed the court that around 30 applications have been received for scientific mining and the applications are being processed, in conjunction with the Ministry of Coal. The court hoped that all safety and environmental norms will be met while conducting scientific mining.