Itanagar, Sep. 13 (ANI): Refuting reported allegations of violation of guidelines in extraction of coal from Namchik-Namphuk coal block (NNCB) in Arunachal Pradesh and involvement of insurgent groups in illegal mining, Union Minister of State in the PMO, V Narayansami today termed it as misinformation.
Responding to a question, he informed that the NNCB was allocated to the Arunachal Pradesh Mineral Development and Trading Corporation Ltd. (APMDTCL) on October 28, 2003 by the union ministry of coal.
Narayanswami informed that the total area of NNCB is 133.65 hectare and mining lease is held by APMDTCL for a 20-year term.
All kinds of statutory clearance like mining plan, environment clearance and diversion of forest land for open cast mining were obtained from the Government of India in the due course of time.
Out of 133.65 hectare of NNCB, the operation of open cast mining was undertaken only in 39.02 hectare since April 2007 to February 2012, while total extraction of coal during the period was 10 lakh metric tonne. The mining operation is presently suspended since May 1o last. Therefore, the allegation of extraction of coal exceeding the prescribed quantity is completely baseless, he claimed.
A profit of Rs.985.73 lakh was accrued to APMDTCL in last five years through the open cast coal mining from the NNCB. The Corporation has paid a total amount of Rs. 2291.52 lakh to the GoAP and the GoI in the form of royalty, cess, CST, VAT, stowing charges, energy cess etc. during last five years.
The APMDTCL also paid Rs 299.77 lakh under CAMPA to the Centre which will be subsequently utilized for compensatory afforestation by the state's environment and forests department. An additional Rs.14 lakh has been paid to the State Pollution Control Board as consent fee while Rs.304 lakh paid as income tax to the Central Government.
The extraction of coal in NNCB was awarded to the National Mining Ltd. in a transparent manner in 2007 through open tender.
There was no violation of Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act, 1973 while extraction and marketing of coal in the said coal block as the NNCB was allotted to the Arunachal Government for commercial use and accordingly marketing of coal was done by the APMDTCL on the basis of grade of coal duly certified by the North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat.
Accordingly the royalty on coal was also realized from the buyers. As such, there was no loss to the state exchequer as alleged by one of the major Opposition political parties.
As regards to allegation of insurgent groups involved in illegal mining in NNCB is concerned, the Arunachal Government strongly denies it as the inquiry conducted by Changlang district administration revealed that no insurgent group is involved in illegal mining in the area. The district administration and police have already been instructed to take effective steps to stop the rat hole mining carried by local residents of that area. Few criminal cases have also been registered and investigations launched, he added. (ANI)
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