SHILLONG: In his first reaction to reports of racketeering in coal, Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma was on denial mode and boldly defended his older sibling, Power Minister James Sangma.
When asked about the media reports naming James Sangma for his alleged involvement in the illegal transportation of coal, he said it is easy to make allegations even as he added that it is wrong for media houses and some individuals to directly jump into a conclusion about illegal transportation of coal as soon as they see movement of trucks on the highways.
Dismissing outright the charges made by coalition ally BJP, he said, “These allegations are baseless and no such activities are allowed.”
He also termed the move of BJP or any party which is demanding CBI probe as “very irresponsible”.
He felt that whenever people see a coal truck on the highway, “they presume and jump into conclusion” that it is illegal transportation of coal. “Movement of coal trucks takes place with paper and proper documents,” he claimed.
Reiterating that the state government has taken strong measures in this regard, he added that the deputy commissioners, SPs and Mining and Geology department had been directed to ensure that illegal movement of coal was not allowed.
Sangma further said that the government was serious about dealing with the illegal transportation of coal and hence the government has also proposed setting up of integrated check gates which will have live CCTV cameras along with other technological solutions to check all the trucks.
When asked if the government is open to the idea of a CBI probe into the allegation to clear the doubt, here too the chief minister deflected it by saying it was easy for everyone to demand a CBI probe but the government has to act in a “practical and responsible manner”.
“If there are some genuine and valid reasons obviously but CBI is not an agency which we just call and ask them to come. There has to be proper systematic way to approach and if there are any issues, we will definitely look into it but I don’t there are any allegations with base right now,” he said.