Shillong, Oct 30: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma today said that the statements made by the leader of opposition Dr. Mukul Sangma on issue of coal lacks clarity and has been presented to confuse the people.

“Government of Meghalaya has followed all necessary laid down guidelines and instructions from the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT). If there was any violation of the guidelines, the NGT and other environmental groups which are active would have specified… speaking without facts and details is incorrect,” said Conrad, while replying to a question on illegal extraction of coal levelled by Dr. Mukul Sangma.

On allegation that officers of mining department are working under the duress of the government, the Chief Minister said, “It is a political statement and opinion he (Dr. Mukul) has given to confuse the people. There is no truth in any of the allegations levelled by the opposition. We have been strictly adhering to rules and procedures that are to be followed.”

On allegation of delay in the auctioning of coal, Conrad said, “Opposition has been changing its stance from one to another… first they said that 32 lakh metric tons of coal is not there, than they said that 32 lakh metric tons of coal should be auctioned. The opposition must know what they are talking about…it looks bad that they have been contradicting themselves”.

Stating that there is a major confusion in the ‘opposition camp’, the Chief Minister said, “There are different criteria and compliance which has to be followed as per the directives. We are almost close now and transportation is being done from pit head to depots and the auctioning process will soon start in some of the districts,” he said, while asserting that there was huge challenge for the Government as new procedure demands everything is done under complete supervision of the apex court.