Leader of the opposition, Dr Mukul Sangma, said today that if the state government continues to refuse an independent inquiry into illegal coal mining activity and other matters, he will take the matter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The scale of the illegalities is there for everyone to see, the former Chief Minister said, and “therefore the government of India has to intervene.”
According to him, even the media in neighbouring Bangladesh has taken note of the criminal activity, wherein a “figure by figure” report of the losses that have been incurred by Bangladesh due to these illegalities in respect of limestone, coal and other minerals.
“This is an eye opener for the government of India. It’s not only the state government but the nation as a whole that is losing out on income. It is very scary that they (the ruling parties) are trying to promote a culture of corruption. Meghalaya has always fought against corruption. But today the government does not have any transparency,” Dr Sangma alleged.
He also shot back against Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong’s recent complaint that all anyone ever talks about now is coal.
“Didn’t they talk only about coal during (the 2018) election? Before the election they promised that they would lift the ban of the NGT (National Green Tribunal). They did not even know how they would do that and lied to the people. After lying to the people they have encouraged illegal mining,” the leader of opposition said.
Another problem for the senior Congress figure is that the government, he said, has crippled the Lokayukta as an institution as only one person is in the ombudsman authority instead of the recommended three.
“They (the government) don’t want any whistle blower. They had tried to block the order of the Lokayukta in respect of enquiry into allegations of corruption in the district councils and coal,” he said, adding that it is obvious the government aims to embolden people who engage in corruption, thereby destroying Meghalaya.
