A private firm, Eastern ANning Ud, is scheduled to boon large-scale operations in a sao" already ravaged by several small mining ventures. But skft officials seem blissfully ignorant of the threat.
FINANCE minister Manmohan
Singh's largesse in the form of a five-year tax holiday to entrepreneurs
pro m*oting industries in the northeast
is already producing an envirowmen-
tal fallout. Eastern Mining Ltd (EML),
the country's first private coal-mining company, is to begin large-scale
operations in Meghalaya and this
could damage further the ecology of a
state ravaged by many small coal
mines.
EML, promoted by Shillong
industrialist Trevor Shefield Bareh,
has been marketing coal purchased
from local mines since 1991. Its new
plan, to acquire mines, process and
sell. coal, seems to have escaped the
notice of Meghalaya officials. EML
reportedly has already secured
export orders for 50,000 tonnes
of coal.
Concerned at the environmental
implications of the Rs 17-crore EML
project, questions were raised in the
Lok Sabha, but state officials replied
they had not received any intimation
from EML of its forthcoming operations. This, despite EML advertisements that brought in applications
for Rs 84 crore worth of shares when
it entered the market to raise Rs 7
crore.
Union coal-ministry officials,
however, welcome the entry of private firms into the cash-strapped coal
industry. One of them explained,
"Budgetary support from the Union
government for the public-sector coal
industry has dropped from 90 per
cent in 1980 to less than 20 per cent
in 1990."
EML director M S Jayaram contended in Shillong his company does
not require either a mining lease or a
licence and its application for environment clearance was submitted to
the state pollution control board on
December 31, 1992. Dismissing Than
raised by local environmentalists, he
said, "Coal mining is environmentally less degrading than the cement
and calcinate factories operating in
the state."
Meghalaya's coal reserves of 576
million tonnes form 59 per cent Of
the total reserv in the northeast.
Strangely, mininegsis a cottage industry in the state and anyone can I
minerals on land they own'. In western Meghalaya, agriculture and coal
mining are the major sources of
livelihood and there are about Boo
small mines yielding high-quality
coal.
Both land regulations and
attempts to increase royalties in
Meghalaya are invariably resisted
and environmental laws rarely
qnforced. The result is mindless
pree-felling and mining, which threaten agricultural land and reserve
forests.
Former Meghalaya legislator
Onwardswell Nongtdu says coal
miners "play havoc with the environ
ment, destroying paddy-fields,
forests and even backyards
of homes". Other environmentalists
say streams and rivers in mining
are too contaminated for
consumption. Even P A Sangma,
a former Union minister for coal,
who is from Meghalaya, concedes
mining techniques in his state
are unscientific and harmful to the
environment. And, G G Swell, a
Rajya Sabha member from
Meghalaya, says, "Strip mining of
coal has caused serious damage.
About 10,000 trucks ply the Shillong-
Guwahati highway, causing congestion, pollution and environmental
degradation."
Nevertheless, Union coal ministry officials insist private companies will rationalise coal-mining in
the state.
The environmental dangers of
mining in Meghalaya have been
established in a study by the geology
department of the North Eastern Hill
University in Shillong. But the findings are not acceptable to individuals
and corporations who stand to
benefit from coal mining. The glitter
of profits from black diamond is
only a dull shine on environmental
fears.
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