No illegal coke units in state, says Conrad

SHILLONG, June 7: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday negated the allegations that illegal coke factories continue to operate in the state.
Reacting to a query on illegal coke factories operating in Jaintia Hills, he said: “There is no question of illegal coke factories operating in the state.”
Admitting that it is a big challenge to work out a balance between environment and economy, Sangma said there are guidelines and principles based on which certain industries can be set up.
“The coke plants that were operating illegally have been shut down and only the ones with documents and clearances are being allowed to function,” he asserted.
The chief minister maintained the government wants to ensure that better technology is used for environmental protection while also looking at the creation of jobs to sustain the economy.
He also said the government will never allow illegal coke units to come up.
The Environment Coordination Committee (ECC) of Elaka Sutnga in East Jaintia Hills had petitioned the chief minister demanding the dismantling of 29 coke plants operating illegally under the Elaka.  In a letter submitted to Sangma recently, ECC general secretary Pynbait Sutnga said information received from the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board via RTI revealed the plants were illegal.
On the murder of two minors, aged 4 and 2 years, allegedly by their father, Sangma said justice will prevail.
He also said that under the Meghalaya Enterprise Architecture (MeghEA), the government would connect all official work with each other through technology and software creation and this would cut down the time taken for clearing proposals.
MeghEA had a few days ago won the WSIS Process Award from the United Nations for being India’s first enterprise architecture initiative during a function in Geneva.
Sangma said proposals that used to be cleared in 2-3 months will be cleared in 2-3 days through the use of technology and seamless movement of files.