The Conrad Sangma-led MDA Government has reached a point where it has to take a call not to allow the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to unearth scams in Meghalaya without the permission of the Government. This is akin to paranoia lest the investigating agency finds skeletons somewhere. But this is expected when a government that is overtly supporting illegal mining and transportation of coal, amongst other wrongdoings like the rice scam. The latest alibi of the MDA Government in response to the illegal mining is that there are not enough boots (read uniformed personnel) on the ground to check these criminal activities. How convenient is that! The question is – how many of those donning the uniform are actually working to check crime and how many are facilitating illegal mining and transportation of coal? That would give a clear picture of policing in Meghalaya. More often than not an FIR ends in ‘not enough evidence,’ and returns to the person filing it to say that she/he should state in court that the investigation by the official concerned has reached a dead end. This is the rule more than the exception. The exception is that Nidamon Chullet the NPP supporter from Jaintia Hills is finally convicted for murder. Whoever the investigating officer of that case is deserves commendation because it takes a lot to convict a ruling party acolyte.
Congress leader Deborah Marak has correctly stated that the MDA Government lacks the will to check illegal mining and transportation of coal and that its not about manpower constraints. She is also correct in stating that the Congress regime had virtually stopped this illegal trade and the Party paid the price for that when it was rejected in 2018 and when the big sharks (coal mine owners) joined the NPP which promised to lift the ban on coal mining imposed by the National Green Tribunal in 2014.
The emergence of a new claimant to the Nokmaship of Nengchigen, the hotspot for coal mining is a strange coincidence. Her claim that there is no coal mining in Shallang reeks of rank opportunism. And that after the police had seized the coal. There’s a limit to lying and the Meghalaya High Court ought to ensure that such opportunists do not mislead its attempts to detect the illegal coal trail. In that aspect the local MLA of the area should know the facts of the matter more than anyone else. There comes a time in the life of a state when its people should unite to reclaim their rights rather than take the route of victimhood and be forced into silence and self-pity. People have to call out corruption, illegality, nepotism et al if they value their rights under the Constitution.
