SHILLONG, OCT 14: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday said pilot projects for closure of abandoned rat-hole coal mines are under process.
“So, I don’t know about the exact report and I think it will not be correct for me to reply to that. Maybe I will reply to you next time when I have better reports on it,” Sangma said when asked about the fact that despite court orders, not a single abandoned rat-hole mine has been fenced.
There are over 22,000 such mines in East Jaintia Hills alone.
The Chief Minister said the utilisation of funds through the Meghalaya Environment Protection and Restoration Fund (MEPRF) is underway, but procedures have delayed implementation.
“The process of utilization of the funds through the MEPRF is on, but the Government of India and the court have put in certain procedures we have to follow to implement and to utilize that. So that is obviously making things slightly more complicated for us,” he said.
“But let me assure everyone that closure of mines, fencing maybe not, but closure of mines, the pilot projects are under process. We expect that very soon we should be able to get the clearances for that and very soon we should be able to move forward in that,” Sangma added.
On the query related to 13 lakh metric tonnes of coal, he said, “To reply specifically to your question about the 13 lakh metric ton, I will need to get some more data.”
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