By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 1: After the mysterious disappearance of a staggering 4,000 metric tonne (MT) of illegal coal from two depots in Meghalaya, the government has come under heavy fire from several quarters starting with the High Court of Meghalaya.
But the state government intends to clear the tarnish off rather quickly as Home Minister Prestone Tynsong on Friday revealed that the concerned district administrations have been asked to “find out the truth”.
The state government will present the reply to the Centre once the report on the missing coal is ready, the Home minister said.
Recently, Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy had told the Parliament that the Ministry would seek a clarification from the state government on the matter and provide a detailed response once the facts are verified.
Opposition Leader Mukul Sangma has also called for stringent judicial oversight in such cases, stating that each incident should be examined independently under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court.
Home Minister Tynsong, however, said the government would welcome any such intervention by the Supreme Court.
It may be recalled that this matter had come to light when the Justice (Retd) BP Katakey committee submitted its 31st interim report in the High Court of Meghalaya recently.
In a scathing observation, the Court directed the state government to take urgent steps and hold persons or officials accountable after nearly 4,000 metric tonnes (MT) of illegally mined coal vanished from two coal depots. The High Court bench asked authorities to identify the individuals or officials responsible for allowing the disappearance of coal that had already been detected and flagged for action.
Earlier, the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) had recorded 1,839.03 MT of coal at a depot in Diengngan village in Ri-Bhoi. However, during a recent inspection, only 2.5 MT of coal was found along with residue and traces of coal.
Similarly, only about 8 MT of coal along with residue and traces of coal was found at the Rajaju village depot in West Khasi Hills district as against 2,121.62 MT of coal recorded by the MBDA earlier.
Interestingly, Cabinet Minister and UDP MLA from the coal-rich Khliehriat constituency in East Jaintia Hills, Kyrmen Shylla, stated that rain may have washed away 4,000 MT of illegally mined coal. This drew severe backlash, too.
Shylla said that Meghalaya receives the highest rainfall and “anything can happen”.
VPP MP from Shillong, Ricky AJ Syngkon, then took a dig in Parliament at the Cabinet minister for his ‘inexplicable’ reply.