Joint team visits mining areas in Mon dist

A joint team comprising of district administration, NGOs, department of geology & mining and forest visited mining areas of Naginimora and Tiru on November 11. According to a press release issued, the team also held meetings with the contractors, miners, village councils and the general public to ensure that mining is done legally in a systematic way under the supervision of the department concerns.
DC Mon Angau I Thou during the visit said that the purpose of the joint inspection was not to find fault but to encourage mining legally and in a systematic way for sustainable social economic development besides protecting the lives and environment. Mining legally under the department would benefit the people, earn revenue for the government, she added. She urged geology & mining and forest department to check/stop illegal mining with immediate effect and take measures to refill the areas and adopt plantation under green seeds policy of the forest department.
She urged the department to spread awareness and create stock yard within Naginimora and Tizit besides installing weighting bridge and adopting proper collection of government revenue.
The DC directed the mining department to furnish the detail list of the license holders and contractors at the earliest.  
Calling upon the miners and villagers to make opportunity of coal mining, the DC said “Coal is a black Gold” and coal was the wealth of Mon district and an important source of development which would boost socio-economic development of the people.
Thou further informed that NOC issued by the Village Council was not sufficient condition and it should be further verified by Konyak Union (KU) and the District Administration to ensure that the contractor abide by the mining rules. The village council should measure the areas and identify the boundaries of the mining areas before NOC was issued to the miners. 
KU president Manlip said the joint team had great concern for the miners, the landowners, the villagers and their land and the purpose of the visit was to stop illegal mining and protect their land from becoming barren in future. He appealed to the departments, the administration, KU units, contractors and the village council to actively discharge their respective roles and responsibility so as to ensure that mining was done legally. He further appealed to the village council to refrain from issuing of NOC blindly.
KU general secretary Hosea reiterated the resolution adopted by the union and its constitution. He informed that as per the Article 30 of the Constitution, KU would strive and enforce protection of land, its resources and integrity. He blamed the department for encouraging illegal mining by imposing double fine to the miners. 
Former KU president and member of PAC Hoka, NPF Mon district president Tingthok, former MTC chairman Wanglong also spoke and exhorted the people to stop illegal mining. Contractors of Coal Mining Union (CMU) also spoke and shared their views and problems. Meanwhile, the landowners of Tiru while sharing their views and opinion, claimed that Tiru coal miners paid the highest revenue to the state government.
Despite such huge revenue generated, they lamented that the state government has totally neglected the people of the area. According to them, many dignitaries have visited and made several promises but nothing has been done so far for the development of the valley and the people.
Pointing out that the Tiru valley is situated in border area, with lots of illegal activities being carried out, the villagers also appealed to the DC for creation of police outpost at Tiru valley, as the nearest police out posts were in Naginimora and Tizit which were unreachable in times of emergencies, especially during rainy season.
According to them, deploying police personnel in the valley would not only help curb crimes but also check encroachment and illegal activities at Shingphan Wild Life Sanctuary.  In this regard, they appealed to the administration and KU to take immediate necessary steps to deploy police outpost in Tiru to maintain law and order in the area.