CM visits Margherita and holds meeting with Coal India Ltd.
Guwahati, June 19 (NKTV): Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday visited Margherita in Tinsukia and held a meeting with senior officers of Coal India Ltd. He discussed various issues pertaining to restarting mining activities in the North Eastern Coalfields (NEC).
Later talking to the newsmen, he said that issues like pollution, forest and environmental clearances etc are involved regarding resumption of mining activities and a tripartite meeting between Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India and Government of Assam would be held next month in New Delhi to take final decision in the matter.
He said all stakeholders must come together to find a solution to the problem and said the Coal India Ltd. should also come forward in this regard by taking steps such as contributing in Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) which is meant for promoting afforestation and regeneration activities.
He said a concentrated and scientific approach is needed to resolve the issue and steps have to be taken in a phased manner to achieve the balance between mining and forest protection. The Chief Minister also received memorandums from various organisations and stakeholders today and said that a way would be found to resume economic activities without harming the environment. Steps have to be taken for sustaining economy, livelihood and environment, he said.
Union MoS in Ministry of Food Processing Rameswar Teli, Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, Tea Tribes Welfare Minister Sanjay Kishan, MLA Margherita Bhaskar Sharma and senior officers of concerned departments were also present in the meeting.