Coal news and updates

Normal life remained virtually unaffected in Meghalaya Wednesday despite a dawn-to-dusk shutdown called by the State Co-ordination Committee of Coal Owners, Miners and Dealers’ Forum.

The Forum is protesting against the alleged nonchalant attitude of the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance government to comply with the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) order to prepare an inventory of extracted coal in the State.

Due to the failure of the government, the NGT has continued with its ban on mining and transportation of coal in the State

A government official said the dawn-to-dusk shutdown evoked “practically no response”, and the situation was peaceful in state capital Shillong and the districts.

“There is no report of any untoward incident from any part of the state. Government offices and banks are functioning normally in the state capital and other district headquarters,” Chief Secretary PBO Warjri said.

The public transport system on city streets remained normal. On Tuesday, the State government has invoked the Meghalaya Maintenance of Public Order Act (MMPO) and warned the sponsors of the shutdown that they would be held responsible for any damage or loss caused to public or private properties and would have to compensate for the same.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Friday had maintained its ban on coal mining in Meghalaya, contending that right to life was far more significant than economic interest and the latter cannot be allowed to gain preference.

The green court, which upheld its April 17 interim order banning rat-hole coal mining, but allowed transportation of extracted coal kept in the open till June 9, maintained that there was no prejudice while protecting the environment.

The April 17 order came after the All Dimasa Students’ Union and the Dima Hasao District Committee filed an application before the tribunal alleging that the water in the Kopili river was turning acidic due to coal mining in Jaintia Hills.

“Article 21 of the Constitution gives predominance to right to life than any other interests including economic interest. In the largest democracy of the world, we cannot permit economic interest to be preferred over to right to life and live in a healthy environment just because the activity should be allowed to carry on,” said Justice Swatanter Kumar on unscientific coal mining in the state.

Mining activities in Meghalaya are controlled by the state’s indigenous people who own the land. The coal is extracted by a primitive surface mining method called “rat hole” mining that entails clearing ground vegetation and digging pits ranging from five to 100 sq.m. to reach the coal seams. Workers and children go deep into these holes to extract the coal using primitive tools such as pickaxes, shovels and buckets.

 

 

Source: http://www.nagalandpost.com/