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Abandoned coal mines may be reactivated, fears panel

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Justice Katakey Commission seeks closure of more than 30,000 mine openings

SHILLONG, Nov 5: The one-man commission of Justice (retired) BP Katakey, appointed by the High Court of Meghalaya, on Tuesday said more than 30,000 coal mine openings spread across the state, some very remote, will be reactivated for illegal operations unless these are closed.
“The East Jaintia Hill district has many mine openings. Another 10,000 are in other districts. They should be closed because they are a risk to humans and livestock. These are also the sources of pollution. Acid mine drainage is still happening and I have asked the government to prioritise closing, especially those near human habitations,” he said.
Recalling the action report he had submitted earlier, he said, “In EJH, once a major coal-producing district, had a little more than 22,000 mine openings, which is huge. All these rat-hole mines, whether active or abandoned, have to be closed. I had recommended controlled blasting for the closure of these mines.”
Asked if any action was initiated on the ground, he said, “The government has given the project to CMPDI on a trial basis and CMPDI has submitted the project report.”
He said the High Court of Meghalaya High had in its last order sought a report on the action initiated and fixed December 2 for the hearing.
Informing journalists that he received an allegation of illegal mining continuing in South West Khasi Hills, Justice Katakey said, “I directed an enquiry and based on the finding, submitted a report to the high court. My finding says the report indicates continued illegal mining activities as some of the mines can be reactivated immediately.”
He said, “What the high court has said is according to the recommendations of my committee. The state government should take steps to close those mines.”
He further said: “Some of the mine openings are in very remote areas and it may not be possible to oversee these daily.”
Order for aerial survey to verify coal stock
Justice Katakey also ordered an aerial survey to verify the availability of 32 lakh metric tonnes of coal as claimed by the state government although an earlier drone survey revealed 15 lakh MT of coal only.
“We got it verified through the drones and we found about 15 lakh MT treated as reassessed, re-verified, and inventoried coal,” he said.
“Any coal other than this quantity is treated as illegally mined coal, action for which is required to be taken under the MMDR Act,” he added.
“I have directed the state government for an inquiry to find out if the remaining coal out of the 32 lakh MT has been illegally transported out of the state or if a wrong figure has been mentioned in the affidavit filed before the Supreme Court,” he said.
“We have directed an aerial survey to find out the availability of coal other than the inventoried coal and the coal already seized. The inventoried coal has already been transported to the designated depot so there is on record there should not be any inventoried coal available in the state other than the designated depots,” Justice Katakey said.
“What is available is the seized coal and if there is any other coal found during the aerial survey other than the seized and inventoried coal that coal has to be seized again,” he added.
He said altogether 5,20,455.67 lakh MT of inventoried coal was put up for auction, out of which 3,55,886 MT lakh was sold in an auction.
On the seized coal, he said different districts have different quantities and in the WKH district, it was a little over 1.3 lakh MT and the entire quantity of coal was put on auction and accordingly, a little over 1.39 thousand was sold.
“In EJH, there was little over 72,400 thousand MT, out of which 64,916 MT was sold in auction. In WJH, a total of 1,87,000 MT was available but court permission was obtained for 1,40,118 MT for auctioning. In the auction, 654 MT was sold,”
He said almost 29,000 MT was available in the Garo Hills and the court allowed the auction of the entire quantity although the process is not yet over. In SWKH, a little over 34 MT was available in gunny bags and the auction procession is on.
Justice Katakey also said 4,28,228.825 lakh MT of coal was seized under the MMDR Act, out of which MTC issued the mineral transport challan for 50,201 MT till August 14.

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