Union minister’s coal remark untrue: Saleng

SHILLONG, Aug 6: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state president Saleng Sangma asked the Meghalaya government to double check information before sharing the same with the central government.
His statement has reference to the written reply of Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Prahlad Joshi in Parliament.
Sangma described as “far from truth” Joshi’s statement in the Rajya Sabha that no coal production has been reported in Meghalaya in the last four years according to information received from Coal Controller Organisation.
“It seems there are some loopholes in the system. Every now and then, we see that trucks are plying on the highways,” Sangma said even as he asked the state government not to give “irrelevant” information to the Union ministry.
“Official feedback given to the ministry needs to be checked or else, there will be some repercussion in the future,” Sangma said.
Joshi’s statement bears no resemblance with the ground reality as evident from the overwhelming number of expose of illegal coal mining and transportation in the state.
The Union minister also informed the Rajya Sabha that the estimated coal resources in Meghalaya according to the Coal Inventory of India, published by the Geological Survey of India on April 1, 2021, are 576.48 MT.