GUWAHATI, AUG 4 (PTI): Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday claimed that most of the people affected in Upper Assam flood depend on coal-sand mining activities in neighbouring Nagaland, and they must decide on closing the “illegal” ones.
Sarma’s statement came following opposition’s demand to shut all illegal coal-sand mining to prevent a recurrence of floods in Upper Assam districts.
After visiting some flood-hit areas, he also said that Assam cannot stop any mining taking place in Nagaland, and the central government will have to be involved in the process.
In the latest wave of floods, widespread devastation occurred in Sivasagar and Charaideo districts, especially in the bordering areas of Assam-Nagaland, while at least 87 people died and nearly 1.3 lakh others were impacted.
Opposition parties like Congress, Raijor Dal and Assam Jatiya Parishad, along with peasant body Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, have alleged that devastating floods in Upper Assam districts were “man-made” as they result from a nexus between coal-stone mafias and influential political leaders from Assam and Nagaland.
“All people in those affected places depend on mining. So, I have requested the public to give a decision,” Sarma told reporters here.
Stones come from Nagaland as mining takes place in that state, and Assam cannot go and stop mining in the neighbouring state, he added. “We can stop the stone crushers at Bihubor (in Assam). Coal mining also does not take place in Assam, it happens in Nagaland. We cannot dictate what policy the Nagaland government will take,” he said.
Assam government will try to talk to Nagaland through the central government, he added. “No illegal mining takes place inside Assam. I will try to talk myself once this flood situation improves,” Sarma said.
When asked if illegal mining is responsible for such huge devastation, he said the government will have to take the experts’ opinion to find the exact reason.
