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| (Top) D.D. Lapang being sworn in as chief minister by Governor R.S. Mooshahary at Raj Bhavan in Shillong last week. Bindo Lanong and Paul Lyngdoh(Below) take oath during the ceremony. File pictures |
Shillong, May 21 : Two contentious issues — power deal and uranium mining — will continue to haunt the new Congress-led MUA coalition government where the UDP and KHNAM are constituents.
In 2007, when D.D. Lapang was chief minister with the same combination of the UDP, KHNAM and others, he had to keep in abeyance the power deal with private companies and even went slow on mining.
Before the Assembly elections held last year, the regional parties, the UDP and KHNAM, which are opposing both mining and the power deal, had even included these issues in their election manifestos saying both were against the interests of the parties as well as the state.
Soon after the swearing-in ceremony, Lapang indicated that the Congress would like to go ahead with the power deal. He also blamed the previous Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) government for not being able to decide anything on the issue with private companies.
The previous government had entrusted an official-level committee to look into the merits and demerits of the power deal. After getting the report, the MPA government had okayed two projects which are below 100MW, and decided to scrap other three major projects as they did not follow international competitive bidding.
As far as mining was concerned, the former MPA government had also constituted a committee to examine the matter. While the Congress was not averse to the idea of going ahead with mining, the regional parties, which include the UDP and KHNAM, would not agree to this as they had so often opposed these two projects.
When contacted, the UDP leaders said since they had assumed office only a few days back, it was too early to discuss these issues. “It is too early to comment on these issues as it needs further analysis,” deputy chief minister, the UDP’s Bindo Lanong, said.
UDP Legislature Party leader J.D. Rymbai echoed his views. Now with the Congress having the maximum of 26 legislators on its side to support the party, the indications are that the government may re-examine the power deal with private companies and also go ahead with the mining project.