Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that the State has been suffering a double loss through the 14th Finance Commission period, given the National Green Tribunal’s ban on coal mining in the State from 2014, which resulted in an estimated revenue loss of about Rs. 4000 crores in the last five years.
“We have not been compensated for this loss by the 14th Finance Commission either through the revenue gap grant route or through increased weightage for eco-system services in the  devolution formula,” Conrad said while addressing the conclave of the Himalayan States held at Mussoorie on Sunday.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that he appreciated the 14th Finance Commission giving a weightage of 7.5 percent for forest cover in the horizontal devolution formula, but this weightage should be substantially increased now. Meghalaya Chief Minister pointed out that the 76 per cent of the land is under forest cover and also receive abundant rainfall.
Conrad K Sangma said that the forests have been well managed by communities and there are fantastic examples of environmental protection like the sacred groves and living root bridges. Meghalaya also has 3,810 villages with springs, which is the highest number of spring water sources among the Eastern Himalayan States.