SHILLONG: Congress spokesperson Zenith Sangma has criticised the state government for being “irresponsible” in handling the contentious issue of coal mining.
“It means his (Conrad Sangma’s) government has not yet engaged itself for the task as it is still in future tense – ‘Will try to find out…’,” Zenith said.
The chief minister, while denying any illegal mining, had said on Thursday the government would try to find out the truth in such claims.
While Conrad had denied any illegal mining since 2014, Zenith claimed there were no such activities during the tenure of the previous government. “It (illegal mining) happened only during the present government’s tenure,” he alleged.
Moreover, he said a resolution was unanimously passed in the Assembly by the previous Congress-led government requesting the Centre to exempt Meghalaya from central mining laws as per the provision of Para 12A (b) of the Sixth Schedule.
“Besides, the mining policy was also already in place which would be in sync with the regulation of the NGT and could subsequently address the issue of environment and health hazards,” Zenith said.
The Congress leader said the present government has got everything in place and it has to follow up by engaging with the Government of India.
Zenith questioned the new measures taken by the Conrad Sangma-led government and said, “Let him explain categorically to the people of the state.”
