No question of Govt facilitating illegal coal mining: Meghalaya CM

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaAugust 25, 2022

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday said there is no question of any facilitation of illegal coal mining by the state government.

Conrad also slammed the Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma for making this accusation against the National People’s Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government and reminded him of his failure to take any action against illegal coal mining during his 8-year tenure as chief minister of the state.

“There is no question of any facilitation. In fact, it was during the opposition’s time when there was no action being taken on any of these (illegal activities),” Chief Minister told reporters.

“It was only when the NPP-led MDA government (took over) that we started imposing the MMDR Act, made it more stringent for anybody involved in these kinds of activities,” he said.

He informed that numbers of cases have been filed and actions have been taken against hundreds of people. “Lots of people have been arrested also. So one cannot simply point a finger. I think they (opposition) have to realize what are the things they did not do during their time before pointing their fingers,” Conrad said.

On the recent death of a coal labourer while another injured after they were trapped inside an illegal coal mine in West Khasi Hills district, Chief Minister said that the owner of the mine has been arrested. “The system is there to catch anybody if there are any illegal activities that are going on and those actions will be taken… the law is there to take action and punish the people who are guilty,” he said.

He however expressed that there are limitations due to inaccessibility to mines that are way inside the district.

“Therefore, for the administration and officials to reach these locations it’s physically next to impossible, one has to understand those areas,” he said.