GUWAHATI
A one-member panel appointed by the High Court of Meghalaya to handle coal-related issues has flagged the lack of progress in restoring the environment damaged by rat-hole coal mining in the northeastern State.
The Justice (retired) Brojendra Prasad Katakey also underlined the non-utilisation of the Meghalaya Environment Protection and Restoration Fund (MEPRF) apart from the sanctioning of a few projects.
The High Court appointed Justice Katakey in April 2022 to recommend measures to the Meghalaya government in compliance with the directions issued by the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which had banned the hazardous rat-hole coal mining in April 2014.
Rat-hole mining involves digging small tunnels large enough for a person to crawl through to extract coal.
In its 22nd interim report submitted to the court last week, the panel said necessary steps need to be taken by the departments concerned for restoring the mining-affected ecology of Meghalaya with ₹400 crore in the MEPRF and another ₹100 crore with the Central Pollution Control Board.
It said the people living in areas around the mines — most of them abandoned — continue to suffer due to continued acid mine drainage from the mine pits that have not been closed yet.
The committee also said that auditing the source of coal used in the coke oven, ferroalloy, and captive power plants of cement factories was under way and expected to be completed within three weeks.
An audit committee formed for this purpose considered the representations from two coke plants. It apprised the Katakey panel of ₹2.24 crore to be paid by these two plants toward royalty and cess for using unaccounted coal.
The interim report said the transportation of re-assessed or re-verified inventoried coal to the designated depots has not been completed yet, as the drone survey to find out the availability of any further mined coal in the districts concerned is yet to commence.
The panel recommended the conduct of the drone survey immediately after the completion of the transportation of re-assessed or re-verified inventoried coal to the Coal India Limited-designated depots.
The objective of the survey is to locate deposits of coal illegally mined after the imposition of the NGT ban and to take the required steps including the seizure of such coal under the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.
