SHILLONG, FEB 25: With the National Green Tribunal-NGT- ban on coal mining in Meghalaya affecting revenue generation of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council KHADC, opposition People’s Democratic Forum (PDF) has demanded that the Executive Committee headed by chief executive member Adelbert Nongrum must collect limestone royalty directly and also gets the centre approval on the amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India demarcating the state and council’s subjects.
Opposition fears that the NGT ban on coal mining will cripple KHADC financially as major revenue generation was from coal royalty.
Participating during the ongoing general discussion on budget on Wednesday, Congress MDC “Neil Antonio War said, “ Getting the immediate approval of the centre on the proposed amendment of the Sixth Schedule will pave way for improving the revenue generation of the Council.”
The proposed amendment of the Sixth Schedule was earlier submitted to Ministry of Home Affairs by the previous EC led by Pynshngain N Syiem. The matter is still pending with the ministry.
War said that the MDCs from the opposition are ready to spend from their pockets to go to Delhi and take up the issue with the home ministry, He urged the present EC to ensure that the proposed amendment gets the approval before the end of this term.
War said the ban on coal mining has affected both the state government and the district councils as major revenue share comes from this mineral. To improve the revenue generation he also suggested of encouraging rubber plantation.
The letter sent to the union home ministry by KHADC had proposed ‘exemption of para 12 (A)’ in the Sixth Schedule areas.
Nongrum assured the House that the matter would be taken up by his executive committee soon after the ongoing budget session is over. “We will discuss jointly on the need to lead a delegation to Delhi and seek status report on our proposal from the centre,” he said.
Former CEM and PDF chairman Pynshngain N Syiem feared that future financial position of the district council will be bleak due to NGT ban on coal mining in the state. He felt that if immediate measures are not taken then the district council will face financial crisis as even the state government is going through bad financial phase.
Syiem also suggested that the EC come up with ‘revenue related Acts’ to strengthen the council’s exchequer besides equipping its staffs with training on finance. He said,“It is high time the focus and priority of this EC should be on revenue related Acts.” He said if the council’s financial position is weak, it will never be able to formulate and implement many of its policies.
The opposition also demanded a follow up on 14th Finance Commission that will soon be implemented by the centre.
War said that the Centre wants to strengthen all the ADCs in the state as this was apparent through the 13th Finance Commission wherein the centre had allotted over Rs 400 crores for all the three ADCs.
War also demanded that the EC ensure that the revenue share from limestone, which is presently being mine by the Lafarge company should be collected directly by the council and not depend on the state government.- By Our Reporter
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