Shillong, Oct 6:The Meghalaya cabinet on Friday gave nod to the much-awaited mining policy even as it ruled out doing away with the unscientific rat-hole mining in the state.
“Meghalaya now has a mining policy,” Chief Minister Mukul Sangma announced after an exhaustive cabinet meeting which was attended by his cabinet colleagues and senior government officials.
He said, “We are happy that we could deliberate on this before the cabinet could consider the proposal and approve the policy”.
The 25 paragraph policy has provisions for proper and scientific mining operations of minerals in the state, Mining and Geology minister B M Lanong said adding that the policy would allow the government to step in and regulate mining activities in the state.
Informing that the policy has accepted rat-hole mining of coal practiced predominantly in the state, Lanong said, “There will be war between the stakeholders, miners and the government if we do away with the rat-hole mining practices”.
He, however, said the policy would provide scope for mining of minerals in a more scientific and sustainable manner taking into account the interest of the state and its people.
“We want to minimise the adverse effect of mineral development on environment and ecology by adopting appropriate preventive measures and ensuring that mining operations is done considering the safety and health of all concerns,” the minister said.
Taking into consideration that most water bodies in the state are not portable due to various pollutants especially in the coal belts areas, Lanong said the policy has outlined the importance of protecting water bodies like rivulets, rivers and streams, drinking water sources, aquatic lives and also safeguard the environment from various pollutants.
Recommending the state government to set up a Mineral Advisory Committee to decide on the welfare and socio-economic condition of the mining areas, the minister said the committee will comprise of technical experts and officials to advise the government.
Discounting the reported presence of a large number of child labours at the coal mining sites in two Jaintia Hills districts, the Mining Minister said isolated cases cannot be ruled out.
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