Big poll issue: All parties promise to fight illegal coal mining in Meghalaya

One of the key issues in the Meghalaya assembly elections is illegal coal mining, with the BJP promising to constitute a task force to check the practice in its poll manifesto and the National People's Party (NPP) saying previously that it would solve the issue of rat hole mining and initiate a scientific policy. The All India Trinamool Congress has also promised to resume mining by formulating a scientific and sustainable policy to ensure that individual livelihoods are not endangered.

Though the BJP is part of a six-party coalition ruling the state, it has criticised chief minister Conrad Sangma on the coal mining issue.

Sangma had in 2019 said that the ban on coal mining had impacted people in the coal rich areas of the state, which has not only affected livelihoods but has also led to financial loss for the state.


"In 2014, NGT had banned coal mining in Meghalaya. I ask Mukul Sangma as to why he failed to challenge the NGT order in the Supreme Court. In 2018, when the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) came to power, the government had to start from scratch and appeal in the Supreme Court. We have engaged with different stakeholders to resolve the ban on coal mining, and we are committed to resolve the issue for the greater interest of our people," he had said.

Mukul Sangma was chief minister before 2018.

The Congress has also alleged that illegal mining has been going on in the state ever since the Conard Sangma-led MDA, of which the BJP is a coalition partner, came to power in the state.