Meghalaya seeks to reduce minimum coal mining area; Centre's panel inspects sites

Correspondent

SHILLONG: Meghalaya is seeking to reduce the minimum area required for coal mining from 100 hectares to five or 10 hectares to bring small-scale miners into the legal mining framework, with the state government proposing scientific extraction methods such as the pillar-and-post model to ensure safer underground operations. 

Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said the government had submitted proposals and made detailed presentations on various mechanisms, including the creation of underground tunnels supported by pillars and protective structures made of plywood or cement to prevent mine collapses. 

A committee constituted by the Union Coal Ministry had visited mining sites in Meghalaya to assess the feasibility of these proposals, with the safety of miners and environmental protection emerging as the principal concerns in determining whether scientific mining can be undertaken on smaller tracts of land.

Sangma said the proposal to reduce the minimum mining area had been discussed at several meetings with the committee, constituted at the level of the Coal Ministry's additional secretary following his initial meeting with the Union Coal Minister about three months ago.

"After my initial meeting with the Coal Minister about three months back, we had a committee that was formed at the level of the additional secretary, Coal Ministry, and the idea that we had projected at that point in time was to decrease the size of the mines from 100 hectares to five, or ten hectares, so that small time miners can also be able to mine in a legal and a proper manner," Sangma said.

He said the committee's principal concerns were the safety of miners and protection of the environment, rather than the proposed reduction in the size of mining areas. The government has submitted proposals outlining possible scientific methods that could be implemented in smaller mines.

"Their concern mainly is the safety of the miners and the safety of the environment, and hence the scientific process is what they would like to see and what scientific processes can be implemented in the smaller areas of mines," the Chief Minister said.

Sangma said the State government had submitted proposals and made detailed presentations on various scientific mining mechanisms, including the pillar-and-post model, under which underground tunnels would be supported by pillars and protective structures made of plywood or cement to prevent mine collapses. He said such technologies had been used in different parts of the world.

The committee visited Meghalaya last week to inspect mining locations, examine the proposed methods and interact with miners. 

Sangma expressed hope that the visit would help advance the state's efforts to establish a scientific mining framework that would enable small-scale operators to participate in regulated coal extraction.

He thanked the Union Coal Minister and additional secretary who chairs the committee for facilitating the visit, expressing hope that the process would move in the right direction in the coming days.

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