The Meghalaya government has initiated legal coal mining more than a decade after the National Green Tribunal banned the hazardous rat-hole method of extracting the fossil fuel.
On Monday (April 17, 2025), Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma inaugurated the first ‘scientific’ coal mining block at Saryngkham-A in the Byndihati area of the East Jaintia Hills district. Two other blocks cleared by the Ministry of Coal are Lumiakhi Wahsarang in the same district and Pyndengshalang in the West Khasi Hills district.
All the mines in these blocks are privately owned. Dapmain Shylla owns the mining lease for the Saryngkham-A mine.
Addressing a gathering via video conferencing, the Chief Minister congratulated all the stakeholders and said the last 10 to 11 years were the most difficult phase for thousands in the State who were directly and indirectly connected with the coal industry.
He recalled that his alliance government accorded top priority to the resumption of coal mining after he became the Chief Minister for the first time. He said the journey from the old system to scientific coal mining was tough and unclear.
“It was like moving through uncharted territory, not knowing what challenge would come up in front of us while we moved forward. What kept us going was to find a way to end the difficulties of our people and bring back normalcy in their lives,” Mr. Sangma said.
He said the government was pursuing the cases of others—the papers of 12 project proponents are being processed—to start scientific coal mining.
He also said tribal land rights and land holding systems that differ from those in the rest of the country added to the challenges of restarting coal mining in Meghalaya.
The scientific – the term entails methods of extraction that are less taxing on the ecology – coal mining block was inaugurated almost two months after a probe panel constituted by the High Court of Meghalaya said more than 2,500 metric tonnes of illegally mined and transported coal were located in the State’s South Garo Hills district between November 2024 and January.
The Justice (retired) B.P. Katakey panel was appointed in April 2022 to recommend measures to the Meghalaya government in compliance with the directions issued by the Supreme Court and the NGT, which banned the hazardous rat-hole coal mining in April 2014.
