SHILLONG, APR 22: NPP legislator from Sutnga-Saipung Santa Mary Shylla on Tuesday said East Jaintia Hills is “going back to 2014” as the continued ban on coal mining ban has crippled the livelihoods of thousands of families and urged State and Centre to frame guidelines for a low-cost, alternative form of scientific mining since open-cast is “too expensive” and unviable for the district.
“East Jaintia Hills is fully dependent on coal. Directly or indirectly, we are all depending on coal,” Shylla said, adding that people are facing severe financial problems and have sought government intervention to fast-track scientific mining.
She said residents have sent memoranda to the Chief Minister and both Deputy Chief Ministers after an April 7 rally, noting that the current open-cast leases are “too expensive and not feasible for our area.”
“Since we have been practicing rat hole mining for a very long time and people want that… we have to see the best solution, the one that is low cost and the fastest,” she said.
Shylla said the situation has deteriorated despite legal mining through challan and auction earlier.
“It is affecting the livelihood of the people since 2014 (ever since the NGT ban was imposed). But it is
affecting now worse because it is like we are going back to 2014 now… right now it is totally closed because the government is following law and order.”
The legislator said the government had been pushing for scientific mining since 2018 and had succeeded in operationalising it, but cost remains a barrier.
“There are demerits with the (present form) of scientific mining since it is very expensive,” Shylla said, urging the state and Centre to come up with an alternative form of scientific mining so people can resume work legally.
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