NGT committee asks Meghalaya to submit revised coal transport policy on Nov 21

An expert committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Meghalay government to submit a second draft policy on November 21 for auctioning and transporting extracted coal lying at various depots in the state.

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Chairman of the committee Justice (retd) BP Katakey told reporters on Thursday that he was not satisfied with the first draft policy submitted by the state government. In reply to a question, the chairman said, "I am not fully satisfied with the first draft policy as there are certain discrepancies that should be removed."

The committee has given its suggestions and asked the state government to incorporate the same in the second draft policy and submit it on November 21, he said. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Katakey here on Thursday. The meeting was attended by representatives of the state government and the Coal India Limited (CIL).

Asserting that a fool-proof mechanism for transportation of coal was very important, he said, unless such a system was in place, there was a likelihood of coal that was not put up for auction, getting transported.

"Verbally the government officials assured me that it would be fool-proof but I told them, I want it in writing," he said.

The committee has also sought a clarification whether the coal would be exported to other countries or utilised within the country. To a query, Katakey said that CIL representatives told the committee that the available coal would not be more than 32 lakh metric tonne and the same will be put up for auction.

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