Jowai/ Shillong, Feb 14: One of the key issue in poll-bound Meghalaya, is the ban on rat hole
mining in coal rich region of the state but major political parties are yet to
make their stand clear on the issue which has severely dented the economy of
the hilly state.
It is almost four years ago since National Green
Tribunal banned rat-hole mining of coal in the state.
The rat-hole technique entails digging small vertical pits to reach the mineral and carving narrow sideways tunnels to move it underground. It was widely practiced in the coal-rich region, until the tribunal, which deals with matters relating to the conservation of the environment and natural resources, deemed the technique unscientific and illegal.
The coal miners in the Jaintia hills in areas like Khelreihit and Ladrymbai are angry lot. The ban came as a shock to them as at a moment's notice, the entire coal economy of the state came to a standstill.
Across Jaintia Hills, several people associated with the coal trade and the many related businesses that were dependent on the coal mining activities came to a grinding halt. Many coal miners turned bankrupt and the economy of the state took a deadly blow.
'It was a bolt from the blue we never thought something of this could have happened. For ages, we were mining coal in our indigenious way. Government did nothing and now we are virtually on roads,' a coal miner from Ladrymbai told UNI.
In Meghalaya, a sixth schedule state, tribal people feel that they have rights over its abundant coal reserves and the Indian state’s coal mining rules do not apply to them. But the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 is in direct conflict with the sixth schedule clause, which lists coal mines as being under its purview.
And here lies the catch, coal miners and people associated with coal trade are now questioning state government’s role into the whole process.
'Government couldn’t present the case properly in court of law in regard to traditional method of mining. Congress government at state is responsible for the whole mess we are in now,' a coal businessman said.
In the run-up to the Assembly – the first in the state since the ban – there is little that seems to matter more than coal to people in the Jaintia Hills. The region accounts for seven of the 60 Assembly constituencies in the state.
Jowai, the largest urban centre in Janitia Hills, there is a perceptible anger against politicians and more so against the Congress.
'It’s about four years nothing has been done. And we don’t see any initiative on the part of the political parties to take up the matter with Delhi. Barely 13 are left for the polls. No major national parties have come out with their manifesto. So you could gauge the seriousness of these parties ,” questioned a coal miner, who had to shift his two children from a private to government school after the coal ban.
But major political parties like BJP, NPP and Congress, who are in electoral battle, are finding it hard to come out with a clear cut solution to the raging coal ban controversy in the state.
“We will work with the NGT to find a solution to the coal ban,” said Shibun Lyngdoh, President of BJP unit in Meghalaya UNI
The rat-hole technique entails digging small vertical pits to reach the mineral and carving narrow sideways tunnels to move it underground. It was widely practiced in the coal-rich region, until the tribunal, which deals with matters relating to the conservation of the environment and natural resources, deemed the technique unscientific and illegal.
The coal miners in the Jaintia hills in areas like Khelreihit and Ladrymbai are angry lot. The ban came as a shock to them as at a moment's notice, the entire coal economy of the state came to a standstill.
Across Jaintia Hills, several people associated with the coal trade and the many related businesses that were dependent on the coal mining activities came to a grinding halt. Many coal miners turned bankrupt and the economy of the state took a deadly blow.
'It was a bolt from the blue we never thought something of this could have happened. For ages, we were mining coal in our indigenious way. Government did nothing and now we are virtually on roads,' a coal miner from Ladrymbai told UNI.
In Meghalaya, a sixth schedule state, tribal people feel that they have rights over its abundant coal reserves and the Indian state’s coal mining rules do not apply to them. But the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 is in direct conflict with the sixth schedule clause, which lists coal mines as being under its purview.
And here lies the catch, coal miners and people associated with coal trade are now questioning state government’s role into the whole process.
'Government couldn’t present the case properly in court of law in regard to traditional method of mining. Congress government at state is responsible for the whole mess we are in now,' a coal businessman said.
In the run-up to the Assembly – the first in the state since the ban – there is little that seems to matter more than coal to people in the Jaintia Hills. The region accounts for seven of the 60 Assembly constituencies in the state.
Jowai, the largest urban centre in Janitia Hills, there is a perceptible anger against politicians and more so against the Congress.
'It’s about four years nothing has been done. And we don’t see any initiative on the part of the political parties to take up the matter with Delhi. Barely 13 are left for the polls. No major national parties have come out with their manifesto. So you could gauge the seriousness of these parties ,” questioned a coal miner, who had to shift his two children from a private to government school after the coal ban.
But major political parties like BJP, NPP and Congress, who are in electoral battle, are finding it hard to come out with a clear cut solution to the raging coal ban controversy in the state.
“We will work with the NGT to find a solution to the coal ban,” said Shibun Lyngdoh, President of BJP unit in Meghalaya UNI
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