SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has criticised the then Congress government for not addressing the coal mining issue as it took no initiative to address the problems associated with the ban.
Commenting on the allegations made by the Opposition leader Mukul Sangma, Conrad said, “The CM back then (Mukul) did not do anything about it and left things unattended; this clearly reflects what was going on at that point of time. If he or his colleagues are pointing fingers at us, they should look at what they did in those four years as to why they took no initiative to resolve the issue.”
On Mukul’s allegation that the ministers in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) are getting a share, Conrad asserted that responsible leaders should substantiate their statements.
With regard to resolving coal mining issue, Conrad said the MDA will work overtime to ensure that everything is streamlined.
Conrad also said there were many programmes undertaken during the Congress regime which need to be looked into such as the Agarbatti, livestock and organic missions. “We will talk about those at an appropriate time”, he said.
Mukul had made a veiled attack on the NPP-led MDA government over the illegal mining and transportation of coal in the state despite the ban on coal mining by the NGT.
Mukul alleged that there was blatant interference by the people in power in terms of revenue realisation and something is going on in the state where the revenue is being looted.