Meghalaya Congress MLA demands action against illegal mining

Shillong, Sep 27 (IANS) Meghalaya's Congress legislator George Lyngdoh on Thursday demanded swift action against the illegal limestone mining in Nongtalang area near the India-Bangladesh border.

However, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said action has been taken against as many as 11 illegal quarries.

Moving a calling attention motion on illegal mining in West Jaintia Hills district, the Congress legislator said: "Illegal mining has to stop. If mining has to be done, it should be in a legal manner so that it ensures a planned approach with strong environmental safeguards. We need to ensure that our law abiding families do not lose faith in our democratic system."

Alleging that a "handful of illegal miners" were carrying out their activities without caring for the law and environment, Lyngdoh said that there were other miners who have obtained major mineral licenses for limestone mining with statutory provisions to export limestone.

Nongtalang village is about 98 km from Meghalaya's capital Shillong in West Jaintia Hills district.

Promising to take action against all illegal mining activities, the Chief Minister said the government was looking at different technologies that could be adopted in order to ensure the system was tightened up.