By H H Mohrmen
The first public statement the new Chief Secretary made on the issue of coal mining is indeed very important because it indicates Government’s stand on the issue. Every newspaper gave prominence to the news and carried it on the front page. Barkos Warjri’s statement becomes the talk of the state and when friends and acquaintance called me to get my reaction on the statement, my response was that the statement was ‘on the expected lines.’
In fact, people, particularly those involved in coal business in both the districts of Jaintia Hills have for a long time expected the State Government to make public its position vis-à-vis the NGT ban on coal mining and transportation of coal from the State. Hence it is not surprising that Government has finally made its stand public; Now there is no ambiguity whatsoever that the Meghalaya Government is for immediate lifting of NGT ban. No doubt the Government had had to endure immense pressure from the coal mine lobby which everyone knows is one of the most powerful lobbies in the state, but the silver lining in the statement is that at least the State Government is not in a denial mode and is admitting that coal mining has resulted in environmental degradation in the state.
It was obvious that in the entire briefing, the Chief Secretary is only echoing his master’s voice and the objective was to please the coal mine lobby in the State. Although the media has quoted Barkos Warjri’s press briefing extensively, but in my humble opinion what the Chief Secretary didn’t say is more important. Warjri said that in Jaintia hills coal is dug vertically and then the digging happens horizontally using science to remove coal from seams which is just one meter. The Chief Secretary also said there are differences between the traditional mining and the present mining system practiced in Jaintia hills. True, the method miners use now in some places in Jaintia hills is called box cutting, where a huge crater is dug vertically and when coal seams are located the miners dig horizontally to extract coal. But if just using cranes to pull coal from the mines is termed as scientific mining, the question is, what is not scientific? The truth is that the horizontal hole is still the size of the rat hole where a miner has to crawl to enter the hole. So what scientific wisdom is involved here? What is so scientific about digging vertically and then horizontally except for the fact that it involves a huge amount of money and only rich coal miners can afford to do this business.
Since mining is not regulated by the Government, the CS knows that the State neither has the data of active or abandoned mines. Neither does the State have statistics about the kind of mining that is happening and whether it is box cutting or traditional rat-hole mines. He would also know that box cutting method is prevalent in areas like eleka Rymbai, Sumer Patorship, and eleka Nongkhlieh but in places like Chyrmang, Iongnoh, Ckhentalang box cutting mining is not so popular. So even in the two districts of Jaintia hills the government cannot paint all coal mining activities with the same brush.
What the Chief Secretary did not say is that the Government has abandoned the claim that it has maintained all along – that mining in Meghalaya is legal because it is a customary practice. At least in Jaintia Hills the Government is willing to discard the argument that it is traditional practice and the reason is because the NGT has termed rat-hole mining illegal. So shifting the State’s stand with regard to categorizing coal mining in Jaintia Hills from traditional to mechanized is deliberate and pre-planned and the intention is to counter the NGT’s order which has called rat-hole mining in Jaintia hills illegal.
Warjri’s statement also juxtaposes coal mining in Jaintia hills against coal mining in Sohra. His press briefing gave us the impression that Sohra is still following traditional rat-hole mining, while mining in Jaintia hills which uses cranes is no longer rat-hole mining. It also implies that since there was no report of river pollution in the Sohra area, therefore rat-hole mining does not have any adverse impact on the environment, while coal mining in Jaintia Hills can no longer be called rat-hole mining as it causes pollution particularly to water bodies in the area. The Chief Secretary tried to hit two birds with one stone in the press briefing. On the one hand he is trying to save and defend rat-hole mining in Sohra and on the other hand he countered the NGT’s claim that mining in Jaintia hills is of the rat-hole variety implying that it is already mechanized mining. In short what the Chief Secretary said was mechanized box-cutting mining practiced in Jaintia hills cannot be called rat-hole and rat-hole mining as practiced in Sohra area is not an environment hazard.
The statement also makes clear that the Government recognises two types of coal mining in Meghalaya – one the rat-hole mining which has no adverse impact on the environment and the box cutting or the so called scientific mining by Meghalaya’s standards. Perhaps what the CS is not aware of is that box-cutting mining in Jaintia hills is of a very recent origin, perhaps less than a decade old while pollution of river Myntdu was first reported in the year 1984 and Lukha in 2007. So can we then say with certainty that rat-hole mining did not cause water pollution in Jaintia hills?
Box-cutting mining is not scientific because except for the use of cranes to pull coal from the vertical tunnel and using water-pumps to pump out water from the mines there is no other machine used in the process. Well, unless we consider using generators to electrify mining areas and the use of solar power by coal mine workers to illuminate their shacks also as scientific mining. Oh yes I forgot! They even watch TV in the labour camps using solar power and perhaps that is what makes mining in Jaintia hills more scientific. The only thing that was clear in the CS’s statement is that Government is not in favour of open cast mining and box cutting is not favorable for the environment so what is left is rat-hole mining. In other words the Government is in favour of continuing with rat-hole mining and this is no doubt music to the ears of the mining lobby in the State.
The other pertinent question is, if the Government is against open cast mining which according to Wajri causes more harm to the environment, why is it still allowing limestone mining in Nongtalang which is open cast mining and also uses heavy machines and destroys swathes of forest land?
The government may suggest that there is no reported case of water contamination in other coal mining areas of the State other than the polluted rivers of Jaintia hills, but there was a report of dead fishes in Ranikor recently. Instead; the government should first of all come up with concrete ideas and mechanisms on how it proposes to clean the waters polluted by AMD and to prevent further contamination of water bodies in the state due to mining activities. Why is this mad rush to appeal for lifting the ban when we do not even have a policy or a mechanism in place to protect and prevent further degradation of the environment? The government should at least start by collecting all the analysis and studies done by the MSPCB, NEHU and other institutions and individuals and plan on how to go about having a more practical and environment friendly mining and mineral policy. If the government wishes to convince the NGT to lift the ban, it should come up with a blue print on how to reclaim rivers particularly Kupli and prevent further damage to the environment, but mere making counter argument against NGT’s order won’t hold any water.
If the government’s only intention is to counter the NGT order then it only proves that it is not serious in its efforts to solve the environmental problem in the state. No matter what type of mining the government encourages, the crux of the matter is to come up with a Policy that will stop polluting air, water, soil and further destruction of the environment. At the end of the day it matters not what term we use to describe mining in Meghalaya, we can call it pin-hole, pot-hole, rat-hole or even jumbo-hole, the truth is that a hole by any name is still a hole but, in the Chief Secretary’s statement we smell a rat.
