Shillong, Feb 15: Voice of the People’s Party (VPP) candidate from Pynthorumkhrah, Mayborn Lyngdoh on Wednesday said that the coal trade in Meghalaya has been purposely made illegal to serve the interest of the people in power.
Talking to The Shillong Times, Lyngdoh said that if coal amounting to Rs 2.5 crore is transported outside the state on a daily basis then the GST to be collected will be Rs 47 lakh adding that the state share from this GST would be Rs 26 lakh.
According to him, the state exchequer is not getting from the transportation of coal at the moment since it is being transported illegally.
He said that if the fund from transportation of coal was coming to the state then the government would be able to pay the salaries of the teachers, health workers, ASHAs and other category of employees on time.
“Now only a few vested interests are benefitting from this illegal transportation of coal,” Lyngdoh said.
The VPP candidate from Pynthorumkhrah said that it would be wrong to say that he is contesting this against two political veterans—PN Syiem from the Congress and sitting BJP MLA, Alexander Laloo Hek who had represented the constituencies for the past 25 years.
According to him, he is contesting to fight against corruption change, to bring peace and harmony in the society and to be voice of the voiceless.
Replying to a query about how he rates the performance of the sitting BJP MLA, he said that an individual Bah AL Hek is a good man.
According to him, he is someone whom they can talk to and he is a person who is approachable.
“As far as a politician, Bah Hek’s score card is very poor. I have seen it for the last 20 years. Poor people are getting poorer, there are no employment opportunities for the youth, there are no developments for the people and water scarcity is still there in the constituency,” Lyngdoh said.
