Tura, May 18: A resident from Tura has written to the Chief Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya seeking action against the government for allegedly violating and misinterpreting orders issued by the Supreme Court (SC) as well as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) with regard to illegal coal mining in the state.
Resident of Walbakgre locality in Tura Cherian G Momin in his complaint to the CS recalled various anomalies and irregularities committed by the state government and sought the official’s immediate intervention in the matter.
According to Momin, the state government earlier in 2014, disregarded the blanket ban on rat hole mining by the NGT and allowed the same to continue. He added that apart from violating various orders issued by the SC, the government misled the court and claimed that 32,56,715 MT of extracted coal was lying unattended when the amount of extracted coal was much less. Momin alleged that illegal mining of coal was continuing in the state to make up for the unaccounted amount.
Momin also pointed out that field visits to confirm the claims of the government on various occasions- including once by former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma had proved that they were false. Newspaper clippings of such incidents were also enclosed in the complaint to substantiate his claim.
Momin also blamed the state government for allowing the mushrooming of illegal coke industries in the state- a total of 45 in Shallang area alone. According to Momin, various orders issued by competent authorities were misinterpreted by the government to allow illegal mining of coal in the state.