SHILLONG, Sep 21: Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Wednesday ruled out any illegal transportation of coal in the state.
He also claimed only one lakh metric tonne of 31-32 lakh metric tonnes of extracted coal has been auctioned to date, insisting all transportation of the fossil fuel is legal “as per challan” processed by Coal India Limited.
“Where is the illegal transportation?” he shot back when asked why the government has been unable to check the illegal transportation of coal in the state.
“The auction processed by Coal India Limited has now taken place and not less than 1 lakh metric tonne has been auctioned and the trucks with challan are moving,” Tynsong asserted.
The coal being transported are all legal according to the challans, he said. “The auctioned coal is from the 31-32 lakh metric tonnes we have,” he added.
Tynsong said the police cannot refuse to register an FIR when pointed out that a pressure group faced issues in lodging a complaint on the movement of trucks transporting coal illegally. He, however, wondered if the FIR had to do with trucks without necessary papers.
He said coal-laden trucks will move again after the auctioning restarts in West Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills and the Garo Hills. The auctioning in Jaintia Hills has just been done.
On the allegations of high-level involvement in the illegal transportation of coal, Tynsong advised reporters to not listen to anyone unless they find out whether or not the trucks are plying with papers.
He suggested meeting the officials of the Directorate of Mining and Geology and finding out how many challans have been issued and against what. Right to Information is also an option, he said.
Referring to the nonstop “bashing” of the government by Trinamool Congress national spokesperson Saket Gokhale, Tynsong said the Opposition was only trying to create confusion to further their political agenda.
“I have no time to reply to this. Who is he? If he is so concerned, let him come to Shillong and find out.
When I talked about Smart Shillong he said blah-blah but everything is there in black and white,” a visibly irritated Tynsong said when asked to respond to the charges levelled by Gokhale on the Assembly building project.
Talking about the TMC’s assertion that the party will repeal the border MoU and scrap the casino plan if voted to power, he said the casino move will die a natural death as the provisional licenses will expire soon.
“If the TMC is voted to power it will be ensured that the status quo between the two states is maintained till the end of this world,” Tynsong stated.
Reacting to MPCC president Vincent Pala’s allegation of rampant corruption at all levels, Tynsong said baseless allegations can be made anytime and by anybody but any such allegation has to be substantiated.
