Shillong, Jan 17: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the state government is not in a denial mode but has taken action against illegal coal mining, by filing over 1000 cases and shutting down several mines.
Speaking to media persons on Saturday after the 3rd Cabinet Retreat, Sangma said, “We are absolutely not in a denial mode. All we are saying is that there is a history to how coal was mined in the past… livelihoods were stopped suddenly.”
He stressed the need to understand the background of the issue, highlighting the dependence of people’s livelihoods on coal mining for hundreds of years.
“All we are saying is that if you snatch away livelihood, if you snatch away the food on the table from the persons, it is not easy and not simple for anybody to tell the person that you can’t do it because that person will be looking at how they will take care of their families because that was what they were doing for last 200 years that means their entire generation were doing it for last 200 years. So you have to understand the background with which things are happening,” Sangma said.
