Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma informed that the Centre has approved the Prospecting License for coal mining in the state of Meghalaya.
In a tweet, Conrad said, “In a major step towards beginning of scientific coal mining in the state, the Ministry of Coal has conveyed previous approval of the Central government for granting prospecting License for coal mining in respect of 5 landowners”.
It may be recalled that the Chief Minister informed during the budget session in March that the Centre has approved the standard operating procedure (SOP) prepared by the state for granting prospecting license and mining lease.
An official from the Mining and Geology Department told TNT-The Northeast Today, “Only 5 applications were received and processed. As per the SOP, landowners can apply to the mining department with required documents for obtaining previous approval of the central government for granting PL.”
The official said that the department expects more applications to come and will process the applications as soon as the department receives them.
