A National Green Tribunal-constituted panel has suggested that the Meghalaya government put in place a coal mine surveillance system (CMSS) and develop a standard operating procedure to ensure effective follow up action in case any illegal mining or dumping of coal is detected.

In its fourth report to the tribunal, the panel, headed by Justice (retd) B.P. Katakey, recommended that within three months, the state government, with the assistance from the North Eastern Space Applications Centre, should set up the surveillance system and the standard operating procedure.

“The CMSS could be similar to the one that has been developed by the Union ministry of mines and the Indian Bureau of Mines with assistance from the Bhaskarcharya Institute of Space Application and Geo-informatics, and the Union ministry of electronics and information technology,” the report said.

In July last year, the coal mine surveillance and management system and Khan Prahari mobile application were launched by Union coal minister Piyush Goyal.

The coal mine surveillance and management system aims to report, monitor and take suitable action on unauthorised coal-mining activities. It is a web-based geographic information system application through which location of sites for unauthorised mining can be detected.

The system uses satellite data to detect changes by which unauthorised mining activity extending beyond the allotted lease area can be detected and suitable action can be taken on it. It also uses information provided by responsible citizens using Khan Prahari app on their smartphones. The app is a tool to report any activity taking place related to illegal coal mining like rat hole mining, pilferage and others.

The system uses satellite data as well as public input to capture information on unauthorised coal mining activities and take appropriate action on them with due transparency.

The report to the NGT also provided that the state government should frame a scheme to suitably reward informers, in case the information on illegal mining and/or transportation provided by such informers is found to be true.

However, the panel has also recommended that the confidentiality of those furnishing such information should be maintained at all cost so that they are not threatened by anyone who is interested in continuing with illegal coal mining.