SHILLONG, May 5: State BJP leader and MDC from Tura, Bernard Marak, on Thursday said the coal stocks at Gasuapara should be verified. He said he had seen coal stocked but the quantity did not seem much. “The government should tell us whether this is legally mined coal or illegal coal,” Marak said.
Asking the government not to be in denial mode any longer, he said the authorities must tell the people about the source of the coal.
A Shillong-based social activist, Kingstone Bolwari, had recently objected to the granting of permission to Jai Maa Coal Private Limited to lift coal supposedly dumped at Gasuapara and transport the same to Bangladesh. He had urged the Chief Secretary to revoke the order.
In his complaint to the Chief Secretary, Bolwari claimed that no extracted coal had been dumped at the site but that the order was issued to facilitate fresh and illegal mining of the fossil fuel from South Garo Hills.
The social activist said the order granting permission to the firm to transport the said coal was issued by the under-secretary to the government of Meghalaya on April 28. An impugned order was issued by the deputy commissioner on April 29 pertaining to the transportation of the dumped coal lying at Gasuapara to neighbouring Bangladesh.
