Cong demands judicial probe into illegal coal mining

SHILLONG: All India Mahila Congress (AIMC) president Sushmita Dev has demanded a judicial probe into the issue of illegal coal mining in Meghalaya.
The statement from the AIMC chief comes days after CSWO president Agnes Kharshiing and her colleague Amita Sangma were brutally attacked in a village in East Jaintia Hills.
Talking to The Shillong Times over the phone on Monday, Dev maintained that the issue of illegal coal mining in Meghalaya should be dealt with once and for all.
Terming the attack on Kharshiing as unfortunate, the Silchar MP added that illegal movement of coal is against the interest of the people of the state.
“I find it quite shocking that you (state government) know that she is fighting against the issue of illegal mining and she was brutally attacked but you could not stop it,” Dev said.
Raising questions on the clandestine manner in which natural resources were being illegally moved out of the state, Dev said such illegal movement of natural resources usually happens with police involvement.
Ever since the National Green Tribunal imposed a blanket ban on coal mining in Meghalaya in 2014, hundreds of cases of illegal transportation of coal have been reported in the state.
Scores of trucks carrying illegal coal were seized in different parts of the state prompting Leader of Opposition and former chief minister Mukul Sangma to allege that the state government was facilitating illegal coal mining in Meghalaya.
The accusations were however denied by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma who gave a clean chit to his government while maintaining that it was taking all steps to keep a check on illegal coal mining in the state.