SHILLONG, Dec 31: The Opposition Congress chastised the NPP-led MDA Government for failing to follow through on a pledge made during its first term of office to resume coal mining in the state.
MPCC president Vincent H Pala stated that although the second term of the government has begun, the tall promise made by the NPP-led MDA Government to resume mining operations has not been fulfilled.
“I am deeply involved in mining and I know how it can be reopened,” Pala said, while adding that the current dispensation is not inclined to resume mining.
“They (the government) are taking so much time because they are not interested in legal mining,” Pala said pointing out that the scientific mining lease was intended to be awarded to 17 interested parties.
“If mining is legal, the money will go to the government; if it is illegal, it will go somewhere else and may be used for elections and other purposes,” he claimed.
“There is no law, no regulation, and the government itself is not very keen to promote legal mining as fast as possible, so people are forced to do illegal mining,” he said, while adding that the gap between the rich and the poor is only widening over the years.
