SHILLONG, Sep 28: Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on Wednesday refused to play game to the debate challenge by Trinamool Congress national spokesperson Saket Gokhale, saying he did not want to spend time with the latter.
“I read today in the newspaper that he is now challenging the CM,” Tynsong said, while mentioning that Gokhale did not know the procedure to obtain information.
Stating that the TMC spokesperson had the right to get the information, Tynsong said he could seek information through RTI if he is not getting the details from the concerned department.
“We have a right to reply to the RTI information but he is just saying we want to debate and I am not interested,” Tynsong said.
The deputy CM also questioned why Meghalaya Trinamool did not have a spokesperson to speak about the issues concerning the state.
Tynsong also asked the state unit of the TMC to come clean on whether they were planning to put up Gokhale as their parliamentary candidate from here.
Short realisation of revenue
Referring to the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on short realisation of revenue of Rs 113 crore by the Mining and Geology department, Tynsong said it was due to the ban on coal mining in the state.
“The Supreme Court has permitted transportation of the coal which has been assessed and declared. The auction is being done by the Coal India Limited. Therefore, naturally the revenue generation has come down due to these factors,” he said.
He also observed that as per the Supreme Court, the state government will have to comply with the various provisions laid down in the MMDR Act of 1957 if mining of coal has to resume in Meghalaya.
“We have received a number of applications for granting of the mining lease and the process is on. Very soon we will be able to issue the mining leases to those who have applied for it,” he said.
Asserting that anyone can apply for the mining lease, he made it clear that the lease will be granted to only those who fulfill the various criteria laid down in the MMDR Act.
To a query on incomplete projects including the Ganol power project in Garo Hills that was referred to by the CAG, Tynsong said there were several challenges that delayed the completion of these projects.
“We could not do anything for two years due to the pandemic. We have just restarted this year and that too only from February-March. We want to complete these projects and we remain committed to the same,” he said.
Exuding confidence, he said if the present government has been able to complete the Crowborough Hotel project which got delayed for 36 years, all pending project will also be completed in due course.