SHILLONG/TURA, May 18: The State BJP, which is a coalition partner in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, has cast aspersions on the government stating that it cannot continue to be in denial mode on illegal mining and transportation of coal in the state while calling for proper action.
Stating that the way illegal mining is going on and the way in which attempts are made to try to cover it up is wrong, state BJP vice president, Bernard Marak, said, “If there is illegal mining and government violating the NGT norms, proper action should be taken they cannot just keep on denying, they cannot be in denial mode.”
Informing that there was an incident at Gasuapara where the members of a pressure group, who had gone for an inspection, were detained by the workers of the company, he said, “It seems they have total control of police & BSF. So much of illegalities are going on at the export point and no action is being taken by the government or any authorities.”
“Something is not right in the way things are moving and moreover I find that whatever exports that is going on it is not tallying with the weight that is being transported to Bangladesh. They are showing something but more quantity is being exported. Government is losing revenue,” he added.
Alleging that the authorities are not doing proper checking, Marak said coal keeps coming although, he admitted, there is no clue from where.
The BJP leader pointed out that companies from outside are benefitting out of coal-related illegalities. “Our people are not benefiting from the export but people coming from outside who have close ties with the NPP, they are benefitting and these companies are not even registered with the district council and do not even have a trading license,” he added.
The export association of Gasuapara had earlier appealed for transport of their own dumped coal but the order was given to only one company, Marak said.
Tura resident moves CS
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.
