Shillong, Aug 13: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma held a meeting with officials of the Union Coal Ministry in New Delhi earlier this week as a follow-up to his earlier discussion to make necessary changes to mining norms so that mine owners with smaller land holdings can also find place in the legal mining ecosystem.
At present, the requirement of a minimum 100 hectares is too high and most local miners are unable to apply.
In his earlier meeting, the Union Minister was positive and asked the state to immediately form a committee. The committee was constituted about a month back and includes Meghalaya’s Additional Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary, Advocate General and the Director of Mining.
Sangma informed that one meeting of the committee has already been held at the official level and two rounds of discussions have taken place with the Additional Secretary and the technical team.
“We are very hopeful that we will be able to find a positive solution so that our small-time miners are also able to legally operate their mines in a safe and legal manner,” Sangma said.
Meanwhile, the CM had also met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the trip where he requested her to not impose any ceiling on the externally aided projects (EAPs).
In a previous meeting two months ago Sitharaman was keen to accept the proposal, Sangma said, “but still there are some discussions going on. And we have urged her again that if the ceiling is not there, it will help and support states like Meghalaya.”
According to him, there have been recent meetings where a large number of new projects have been approved for Meghalaya.
He stated that, although official notifications have not come out, an official meeting has taken place and approval to certain EAPs have been given.
“But beyond what has been approved, we have urged that the ceiling be removed so that we can apply for more schemes in the future,” Sangma said.
