The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government could put a halt to illegal coal mining activities in the State but it does not have the will to do so, Shillong MP Vincent Pala told Highland Post.
“If the State government is interested in stopping the illegalities in coal, it can but, if it doesn’t, it will never stop,” Pala said.
Stopping illegal activity is the responsibility of the government, in which the relevant authority is invested, and not members of the public, he added, ridiculing recent statements made by government figures who have said they will act if proof is provided.
“How can people bring proof when the government must prove and stop these illegalities on coal? The law is with the government,” the Shillong MP stated.
Pala also alleged that the State government is reluctant to tackle the issue because it is ministers and those connected to them who are profiting from the illegal coal trade while pointing to the non-completion of the auction of seized coal, a process ordered by the Supreme Court.
Pala had recently questioned the illegal transportation of coal that has been taking place between his native Jaintia Hills and Guwahati.
“There is no way that contraband coal in vast quantities can be transported over a distance of 400km between states without those in government giving the practice their blessing,” he claimed.
Connected to this flourishing of illegal activity is the rise in extortion demands leveled by “goondas” and the transfer of civil servants and police officers according to the whims and fancies of the powerful.
Recently, the East Jaiñtia National Council (EJNC) made serious allegations that the people involved in illegal coal mining at Deiñchalalu, near Rymbai, East Jaiñtia Hills are very close to the MDA government.
Speaking about the fallout of the Rymbai mining disaster on January 21, in which six labourers died in an accident in an illegal mine, the EJNC said that the MDA is trying to crush the poor by arresting 17 labourers and managers while the “main culprit involved in this illegality is still free.”
