Shillong, Sept 24: If Khasi and Garo languages are included in the Eighth Schedule, it would be the victory of the people of Meghalaya, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said on Wednesday.
Reacting to queries if the eight UDP MLAs, who joined the BJP, are trying to take credit for pushing the language demand, said he would be the “happiest person” in that case.
The UDP MLAs cited “positive response” from the BJP central leadership to their key demands, including the language and coal issues, prompting them to decide to join the saffron party.
On their claims, Sangma said irrespective of who negotiates with the Centre, the focus should be on achieving the goal.
“Everybody has a role to play. Right now, we don’t know what the stand of the Government of India is, whether they are going to include the languages or not. If it goes through, it is not about BJP or NPP, but it is the victory of the people of Meghalaya,” he said.
Sangma said he is not concerned about limelight but about finding solutions. “I don’t look at anything as limelight. For me, it is more important to find a solution to the problems,” he said.
On coal mining, the Chief Minister said the state has moved forward after the 2019 Supreme Court judgment, but challenges remain.
“We fought the case in 2019 and the Supreme Court gave a verdict in our favour and lifted the ban, but with the condition that everything should be done in a scientific manner following the MMDR Act. To proceed under the MMDR Act, certain conditions have to be followed — the area of 100 hectares, scientific mining, open cast mining and so on,” he said.
Citing challenges faced by many miners in following the new norm because of the kind of thin coal seams in Meghalaya, “We have four mines functional as of now.”
“Have we been able to resolve all issues concerning all miners? Maybe not yet, because we are looking at safety, environment and the safety of miners, which requires a lot of scientific and technical aspects to be looked into and those are being resolved one by one,” Sangma added.
