Shillong Mar 12: The NGT committee has approved auctioning of 2 lakhs metric tons of extracted coal in Meghalaya out of 32,56,715 lakhs metric tons.
This has brought a sigh of relief to the coal miners and traders.
There are 75,000 MT in East Jaiñtia Hills district, 50,000 MT each in West Khasi Hills and South Garo Hills districts, and 25,000 MT in South West Khasi Hills district.
As claimed by the Meghalaya government, there are 32,56,715 lakhs metric tons of extracted coal.
The Supreme Court in its order passed on July 3 last year had also directed that the entire extracted coal stocks already identified be handed over to the Coal India Limited for the purpose of disposal/auction as per the rules the CIL and mode and manner formulated by the NGT appointed committee.
Chief minister, Conrad K Sangma, told reporters that that for now, the NGT committee has approved the auctioning of only 2 lakhs metric tons and the NGT committee felt that on a pilot basis, it will take up 2 lakh metric tons first, and see how it goes before taking further decision.
Environmental norms will be followed in the auctioning of coal, and the price will be as per the rates of the Coal India Limited (CIL) and the Metal Scrap and Trade Corporation (MSTC) is an e-auction platform.
In order to transport this auctioned coal, different temporary depots will be set up and strict environmental norms will be followed in every depot during the auction and transportation.
“There will be several checks and balances like the presence of CIL officials, full proof security measures like the QR Code, hologram, four copies of challans, fugitive ink among others to ensure that there is a full proof mechanism in place and transparent online auctioning at an all India level by the MSTC Ltd platform will take place that will lead to obtaining the highest price for the coal of the coal owners,†the chief minister said, when asked about steps being taken to ensure no illegal transportation of coal following the approval of the NGT committee to auction 2 lakhs MT of extracted coal.
