SHILLONG: Meghalaya Assembly during its one-day special session on Tuesday witnessed detailed discussion over law and order situation in the state including the present situation arising out of ban on coal mining and attack on two social activists.
Initiating the discussion, MLA from Mawsynram, HM Shangpliang while criticising the government questioned how the PSO of a Cabinet Minister could assault a trucker from Bhutan who was carrying coal with legal papers.
On the issue of long pending Assam-Meghalaya boundary dispute, he urged the government to make an effort to hold talks with the counterpart state even as he questioned the government over the issue of Them Metor which has not been resolved and the entire area is still under blockade and traffic regulations.
Leader of Opposition, Mukul Sangma while participating in the discussion made serious allegations saying Deputy Commissioners in mining districts were forced to provide figures of re-assessed coal by the present government.
“From where did the coal appear after the extracted coal was assessed in 2014 following the ban,” the Leader of the Opposition questioned while maintaining that the officers will be in trouble if the Supreme Court or any other authority investigates into the matter.
He also said that the issue of ban on coal mining can be resolved and asked the government to go through legal way to solve the issue while asking the Chief Minister to call for a meeting
He also alleged that the government did not want anybody to raise this issue even as he urged the government to insulate state police organisation from anybody who wants to misuse it.
The discussion was also participated by Congress MLAs, Zenith Sangma and Ampareen Lyngdoh.
In reply, Home Minister, James Sangma said that the overall law and order situation in the state was stable and overall internal security had improved
On the long vexed boundary dispute with Assam, he said that the government was continuously monitoring the situation in the disputed areas and administration at the district level often meets and resolves the issues whenever it crops up in the disputed areas
Talking about the border fencing along the Indo-Bangla border, he said that out of 443 km, 319 kilometers have been fenced while the remaining portions are still pending due to opposition from the CCIB.
On the issue of Them Metor, he said that the issue was complex and government wanted to take every stakeholder on board to solve the issue amicably.
He also denied the charge of the Opposition that there was lawlessness in the state saying lawlessness in the state was when more than 330 people were killed in insurgency related incidents and nine people were killed in a police firing
“Lawlessness is what happened in Mokaiaw few years back,” he said