Unscientific mining in Meghalaya: NGT forms committee to prevent such mining
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Shillong, Mar 16: The National Green Tribunal ( NGT ) has established an oversight committee on Mar 15, comprising of 12 members, in order to prevent the unregulated and unscientific mining in Meghalaya. The committee was established after the NGT observed that rat-hole mining is so often in Meghalaya despite the govt's ban on it. The digging of narrow horizontal tunnels which is usually 3-4 feet in height through which the workers can enter and extract coal is called as the 'Rat Hole Mining'.
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The bench headed by NGT Chairperson, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, highlighted that the state authorities are bound to work for the protection of scarce natural resources in accordance with the 'Public Trust Doctrine'. The tribunal also highlighted that, the monitoring cannot continue forever, so task needs to be taken by the executive authorities which will then be overseen by the oversight committee.
The Committee will be headed by Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The Regional Officer of the MoEF of Shillong will act as the Member Secretary of the Committee. The member secretary will coordinate with the working of Committee and will deal with day-to-day issues as per the decisions of Committee. The committee will be meeting within one month to take report of the situation and plan for the future actions.
The committee will take forward the compliance of the judgment given by the Supreme Court and will also order the Tribunal to prevent unscientific and unregulated mining. It will also involve in handling the materials which are already mined and other incidental issues. It might also undertake necessary measures in order to rejuvenate the contaminated streams and rivers.