Deposit Rs 100 crore over illegal mining: SC to Meghalaya

NEW DELHI: Taking into account the environmental damage due to illegal mining in Meghalaya in the last five years, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the state government to deposit Rs 100 crore to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which will use the money to restore ecological balance in the state.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and K M Joseph expressed concern over unregulated illegal mining of coal in the state and said its government has the duty to preserve and conserve natural resources for the coming generations.It passed a slew of directions to regulate miningin the state and directed that 32,56,715 MTs extracted coal stocks lying in four districts will be taken over by Coal India Ltd, which will auction it. The ores are lying in the state as their transportation was banned by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
Me ghalaya contended that it had limited financial resou- rces and wasn't in a position to spare such a large amount. Agreeing with the state's plea, the apex court maintained that the amount has to be paid but allowed it to pay it out of the Rs 430 crore corpus of Meghalaya Environment Protection and Preservation Fund.