By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Government’s draft mining policy, which has emphasized on scientific and sustainable mining practices in the State, has not put a blanket ban on rat-hole mining prevalent in the state.
Revealing this here on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of Mining and Geology departments Bindo M Lanong said, “We have not put a ban on the unscientific rat-hole mining taking into consideration the interest of the miners who are carrying out the task on a smaller scale.”
Rat-hole mining is a primitive method that entails clearing ground vegetation and digging pits ranging from five to 100 square metres to reach the coal seams.
“The policy insists that necessary safety measures are to be taken before carrying out the unscientific rat-hole mining for protection of the environment and the miners as well”, he added.
The Deputy Chief Minister said the miners would be required to cover the rat-hole once the process of extraction of coal is completed. “Need for a separate entry and exit point is also stressed in the draft policy for the security of miners,” he said.
Elaborating on the environment protection and safety measures during mining activities, Lanong said as per the proposed mineral policy, the government will streamline the current style of rat-hole mining.
“There would be efforts as per the policy to check pollution of rivers and water sources to minimise destruction of environment and eco system,” he said.
Recalling the coal mining activities of Cherrapunjee in 1950s and 60s, the Deputy Chief Minister said the miners of those times had created parallel exit routes to escape from any accidents.
“We will insist that there should be a parallel hole while the miners carry out rat hole mining in a particular area which will provide oxygen to the miners in case of any emergency situation,” he said.
When asked whether the provision of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is still there in the policy, the Deputy Chief Minister said, “FDI has not been done away with, but we would not encourage it at the cost of local miners.”
Meanwhile, sources informed that the powerful state miners’ lobby is against FDI terming the entry of multinational mining companies a threat to the local miners.
When asked about the status of the policy, Deputy Chief Minister said the policy is lying with the Chief Minister’s office for the past four months after the necessary approval by the Mining and Geology department.
“The Chief Minister would be in a better position to say why the policy is not being adopted,” Lanong added.
Chief Minister Dr. Mukul Sangma had earlier said that the draft mining policy has “some issues” that need to be ironed out before final approval.