The Meghalaya Government may be making tall claims in many areas of so-called development but when it comes to enforcing the rule of law the state fares miserably. For once the BJP has made the right noises and called out the continued violation of the National Green Tribunal ban on coal mining since 2014. That the ban is a bad joke is evident from the 4000 MT of coal that had disappeared and which was said to have been washed away downstream by the non-existent rain at the time. The fact-finding team of the BJP has even put a price on the head of the Police, the Deputy Commissioner and the MLA for allowing free movement of coal-laden trucks. BJP Vice President, Bernard Marak a known NPP baiter seems to have unearthed what the police have been trying to hide. Marak claims that roughly 60 coal trucks ply daily from Garo Hills alone while the transport challan is paid for only two trucks, thereby allowing revenue leakage on a large scale.
Alongside the report of the fact finding committee delving into illegal coal mining is the news that some miners might have again died inside a coal mine in East Jaintia Hills. While there are denials all around including terming the incident as a rumour there are hushed voices that speak of what could have been another mine disaster. Last year a miner from Assam died inside a mine from what could have been a mining accident. The incident was never reported. What little was known was from the family members of the dead miner who came to receive his dead body. The manner in which the dead body of the miner was handed over to his family members was surreptitiously executed. A special vehicle was sent and the family members were told not to stop on the way or breathe a word about the incident until the dead body reached the home of the deceased. For the Government of Meghalaya to say that there’s no illegal coal mining is a blatant lie.
Law and order does not seem to be a priority with the Government and there is complete lack of accountability in terms of how laws are implemented. Meghalaya has always had poor conviction rates which are far below the national average according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Hence in Meghalaya, most criminals often with heinous offences against them walk out quietly because there is no evidence that they committed the crime/s they were arrested for. Meghalaya also has one of the highest recidivism (re-arresting criminals that have walked out of jail due to lack of evidence) rate in the country, according to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
In Meghalaya, many cases remain under investigation for years, leading to evidence degradation and weakening of cases. The Raja Raghuvanshi case is an honourable exception perhaps because the matter made national headlines and the whole country was agog and waiting for police to act in what seemed like an open and shut case of premeditated murder. It’s time the Government stops misleading the people of Meghalaya and also stops denying that illegal coal mining continues, by trotting out flimsy excuses and doing a poor cover-up job.
