Shillong, March 17: After over a decade, coal mining has resumed in Meghalaya, this time scientifically. Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma, inaugurated the state’s first scientific coal mine at Saryngkham-A Coal Mine, Byndihati, East Jaintia Hills on Monday.

The Chief Minister joined the event via video conferencing, while the on-ground programme in Byndihati was attended by Cabinet Minister Kyrmen Shylla, Sutnga-Saipung MLA Santa Mary Shylla, JHADC Executive Member Hambertus Nongtdu, Deputy Commissioner Shivansh Awasthi, Superintendent of Police Giri Prasad, and other officials and locals.

CM Sangma called the day ‘historic’, as the day in which the first scientific mining began in Meghalaya, and congratulated all stakeholders, including government officials, mine owners, and lease applicants, for making scientific mining a reality in the State. He particularly acknowledged the efforts of the mine lease owner, Dapmain Shylla of Byndihati. He said that the past 10 to 11 years had been extremely difficult for many citizens, especially those whose livelihoods were directly or indirectly tied to the coal industry, as they endured financial hardships due to the coal mining ban.

He recalled that in 2018, when he became the Chief Minister for the first time, leading the MDA Government, the issue of coal mining ban was accorded top priority by the government with the hard work in the last 6-7 years having yielded fruits through the inauguration of the 1st Scientific Mining Coal Block in Meghalaya.

“The journey wasn’t so easy. The journey wasn’t very clear. In fact, it was like moving through uncharted territory, not knowing what challenge would come up in front of us while we moved forward, what kept us going was to see that the difficulties that our people are going through, we must find a way to resolve this and bring back normalcy for our people and our citizens, and that’s what really drove us,” he recalled.

The Chief Minister also said that the process of ensuring that other applicants receive the same mining permissions and are able to start the mining in a scientific manner is on. “It is always complicated and difficult for the first one or two or three of them, because they are moving in uncharted territory, not knowing what challenges may suddenly crop up and delay the process, but now that there has already been somebody who has moved and seen everything, it is now going to be easier for others who are behind now to move forward, because they have shown the way, they have cleared the way and they have managed to now show to others that this is how we have to follow the procedure,” he said.

He pointed out that Meghalaya faced additional challenges beyond technology, including land ownership and land rights issues that are different from the rest of the country. These complexities, he said, contributed to the delays in making scientific mining a reality. He expressed optimism that with the inauguration of the first scientific coal mine, many more would follow, and the government would continue encouraging interested applicants to take up scientific mining as a standard practice.

He also assured that the state government is working hard and efforts are on to engage with the government of India to find ways in which even the traditional miners and small times miners can soon start their mining.

Sutnga-Saipung MLA Santa Mary Shylla thanked the Chief Minister for his leadership in making scientific coal mining a reality in Meghalaya. She also expressed hope that his vision of transforming Meghalaya into a 10-billion-dollar economy by 2028 would come to fruition.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had banned the “rat-hole” coal mining in Meghalaya in April 2014 due to the hazardous and environmentally damaging nature of the practice, which led to frequent accidents, environmental degradation, and water pollution. The Supreme Court also upheld the order of the NGT with directions that only scientific mining be allowed as per all national mining and environment Acts and laws.

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