NONGSTOIN, Feb 22: Villagers of Nengchigen under West Khasi Hills have demanded stringent action against the seven persons named by Kristina G Marak, Nokma of the village, in her FIR filed a few days ago in Shallang.
The FIR accused Alnet Marak, Clington Marak, Pandit Momin, Toban Marak, Nazim Ali, Lipson Momin and Pangseng Sangma of illegally mining coal on community land and terrorising the villagers to such an extent that living in their own houses has become fraught with danger.
“The persons named are carrying on extracting coal from the various illegal rat-hole mines that they have set up. They are extracting close to 10 truckloads of coal on a daily basis from each of the coal mines within our clan land. All of this is being done despite our complaint and despite the Anti Dacoity (AD) camp being just a few kilometres away,” said Kristina Marak, the Nokma.
Marak and her elder sister were the first ones to be targeted by the coal mafia who they said brought men with guns into their houses. The militants have been coming often with the smugglers and threatening them. “When we filed an FIR with the police on the assault, they refused to take any action. Sometime they refuse to even take our FIRs as they are hands in gloves with these men. Even when we went to Shallang to lodge a case, the policemen there called all the people against whom we had complaint. If this is what the police stand for, then our lives will not be worth a dime,” said Kristina’s elder sister.
They said they had been assaulted and had medical records but that didn’t even lead to the arrest of the main accused, Alnet G Marak.
Alnet, as per them, was a resident of the same village but had been acting against the entire village.
“Initially he began selling our timber. When coal was found, he immediately began to illegally set up mines around the place. When we objected, he threatened us and then brought the militants along. We are literally living with our lives on the line every day,” she added.
Another victim of the excesses of Alnet was a 65-year-old shopkeeper whose shop was torched by the accused. The incident took place in January. This time too, the police not only did not take the situation seriously but also misled them, the 65-year-old claimed.
The FIR, as per the villager, was written in such a way that it protected the person accused while putting the entire blame on the shop owner himself. The reason – the 65-year-old does not know how to read or write like most of the adults in the village.
The villagers were assured by the SDPO of Shallang of protection from any nuisance after they filed a complaint. However despite the assurances, nothing was done since the ones who have been terrorising them have neither been caught nor has the mining activities stopped.
“Unless the police take our complaint seriously, our village is not going to be able to live in peace. You can imagine the fact that my husband has been living in other people’s houses as they have threatened to kill him. If that is not serious enough, nothing will be,” added Kristina.
The villagers maintained that armed militants were camping in the periphery of their village and had been threatening and harassing them and all this has been taking place right under the noses of the police. “We have nothing to do with what is happening elsewhere. We just want our land back and a life of peace,” asserted the 65-year-old.