Leader of the opposition, Dr Mukul Sangma, continued his assault on what he said is the government’s slow pace in auctioning the 32 lakh tonnes of extracted coal in the state.
“Why did I say that you should proceed with the auctioning…? Because if it (the coal) is not there you will know and if it is there then also you would know,” Dr Sangma said.
The Congress leader had recently undertaken two trips to coal dumps in the western and eastern extremes of the state and claimed that both did not contain as much coal as they were supposed to hold, which indicated that there had been illegal transportation of the mineral.
He also said that if the government did the auction in a piecemeal fashion, then it would take many years to complete the process.
“The judgment of the Supreme Court was pronounced on July 3, 2019. This is more than a year now and still they have not auctioned it,” he added.
The former Chief Minister also mocked the claims made by the government in saying that delays to the auction process were because there are many legalities involved.
“If they can auction the unclaimed coal so fast even during holidays, when everybody is busy in festive mood, why are they slow in auctioning the 32 lakh metric tons?” Dr Sangma asked.
Refuting the contention of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government, members of whom had claimed that the Congress was confused on the issue, Dr Sangma stated categorically, “The Chief Minister is saying that the opposition is confused, but it is not confused, Dr Mukul Sangma is not confused at all.”
