Outfit threatens action against NGT members for delay tactics
SHILLONG: Banned militant outfit HNLC has called for a three-day bandh starting from 6 pm of August 13 to 6 pm of August 15 in protest against the NGT ban on rate hole mining in Meghalaya and the customary boycott of the Independence Day celebrations.
In a statement issued here on Sunday, HNLC publicity secretary Sainkupar Nongtraw said the shutdown will be called in the entire Khasi and Jaintia Hills region.
He said that the shutdown on August 13 and 14 will be against the NGT ban while the bandh on August 15 will be a sign of protest against the policy of the Indian Government in forcing the signing of the Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement on August 17, 1948 ‘at gunpoint’.
“What kind of Independence shall the people observe when their livelihood is at stake? All poor people including daily wage earners, vegetable vendors and farmers at this time should try to understand that the total shutdown is inevitable as lakhs of our poor people from Jaintia Hills, West Khasi Hills, Ri-Bhoi, and even Garo Hills have been badly affected.
“The shutdown is not meant to take away the livelihood of our people, but it is a voice of protest against the NGT and the Government of India that is hell bent on throwing our poor people into the dungeon of hunger,” the militant leader claimed.
Medical attendants, ambulance services, media and religious ceremonies have been exempted from the purview of the shutdown, he added.
He alleged that the government was a partner in crime for this whole environmental degradation and now poor people are made to suffer enormously at the hands of the NGT and the government agencies.
“All the self proclaiming corrupt officers of the MoEF and MSPCB are purely responsible for the environmental damages,” he said
The HNLC also threatened to take action against the members of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
“If the NGT continues with this delay tactic then the HNLC would not hesitate in taking action against members of the NGT,” Nongtraw warned while pointing out that the people will become poorer and die of hunger as the NGT keeps on announcing a new date for the hearing each time.
He said that the HNLC has doubts that the present crisis was created by businessmen-turned-Congress leaders in order to regulate mining activities and to monopolize coal trade since if the Mining Policy is implemented, then only a few counted tycoons will take over the coal business, as it would be difficult for small time investors to invest huge sum of money.
He said that the HNLC has not taken up the issue of NGT ban for protecting the interests of the wealthy businessmen but instead it has decided to stand up for the poorer sections which have been badly affected by this blanket ban.
According to Nongtraw, the government was not at all concerned about protecting the environment all the while because it was earning huge revenue amounting to thousands of crores of rupees while politicians, businessmen and police had minted huge sums of money through toll gates.
“The main source of income of the police was only through extortion from truck drivers and the government should have made it compulsory to plant trees in coal belts and should have imposed huge fine on people who were responsible for polluting rivers,” he said.