By IANS,
Shillong : The Meghalaya cabinet Friday approved the controversial Meghalaya Mines and Minerals Policy which allows miners to continue with rat-hole coal mining.
Rat-hole mining is a primitive method that entails clearing ground vegetation and digging pits ranging from five to 100 square metres to reach the coal seams.
“There will be war if we do away with rat-hole mining,” said Deputy Chief Minister Bindo Lanong, who also handles the mining and geology portfolio.
“Small miners will not be in a position take up open-cast mining at a short notice,” he told reporters here.
“The government of India has given in writing that it will not interfere with rat-hole mining in the state,” he said.
Lanong, however, said, the only changes that the rat-hole miners would now follow is that they must have entry and exit points.
Moreover, mining would be undertaken through mechanised methods, instead of use of rudimentary tools.
Lanong said the 25-paragraph policy’s objective was to have a “proper scientific approach” towards all mining activities in Meghalaya.
The government would also set up a Mineral Advisory Committee to overlook the concerns of the mining community, including the safety aspect, he said.
Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said the cabinet approved the draft Meghalaya Mines and Minerals Policy prepared by the Mining and Geology department after a brief discussion.
“We hoped that the policy would help regulate mining in the state by bringing the sector under different statutory laws,” Sangma said.
Stating that it would not be prudent to allow just open cast mining in the state, Lanong said open cast mining would be difficult to adopt in a hilly terrain like Meghalaya.
“Moreover, we shouldn’t forget that the land in Meghalaya belongs to the people,” he said citing the unique status the state enjoys, granted under the sixth schedule of the constitution.
Lanong said it was the best policy that the state government could adopt at this present juncture, keeping the interest of the stakeholders and environmentalists into consideration.
Meghalaya has a total coal reserve of 640 million tonnes. The coal is high in sulphur content.
Most of this coal reserve is mined unscientifically by individuals and communities.
Due to unscientific coal mining, the water sources of many rivers, especially in Jaintia Hills district, have turned acidic.
Mining activities in Meghalaya are controlled by the indigenous people of the state who own the land.
Workers and children go deep into these rat-holes and extract the coal using traditional tools.
Makeshift bamboo ladders take miners down into the pits to chip away through two-feet-high tunnels.
Once the coal has been extracted, these mines are abandoned and left exposed in several case.
In Cherrapunjee region, once famous for its heaviest rainfall, environmental abuse has almost reduced the region to a barren landscape.
The region is now pockmarked by abandoned rat-hole coal mines and barren hills. Similar is the case in other districts of Meghalaya.