SHILLONG: As the controversy of illegal coal mining has reached a boiling point in the state following trapping of 13 miners in a coal mine in East Jaintia Hills, the Opposition Congress has now urged the Supreme Court to intervene into the matter and direct the Meghalaya Government to institute a CBI inquiry into the entire matter
Talking to media persons here on Friday, Opposition member and Chief whip, PT Sawkmie said that the Opposition for long has been pressing for CBI inquiry into the entire matter but the government turned a deaf ear to the matter and instead called for an independent inquiry and even till now everything is in dark about the terms of reference of the independent inquiry.
Terming the incident trapping of 13 miners in a coal mine as unfortunate, he said that the Opposition had eve raised the matter about illegal coal mining on the floor of the house in the recently held special session of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly but Government never took the issue seriously.
He also lamented that the members of the NGT team themselves had found that illegal mining was taking place in East Jaintia Hills district but even after that Government did not issue any strict direction to the District Administration to take action against illegal mining taking place in the area.