Meghalaya’s chief minister has been lobbying New Delhi to lift a ban on dangerous, small-scale coal mining operations in his state, without disclosing that his wife owns several mines there, according to documents.
So-called “rat-hole” mining practised in Meghalaya state killed thousands of workers, including children, before the ban was imposed in April last year. At its peak the state produced coal worth $4bn a year, or about a tenth of India’s total production, nearly all from this form of small-scale mining.
In half a dozen letters to the federal government, Meghalaya CM Mukul Sangma’s administration has asked for help to revoke the ban imposed on rat-hole mining in the state by India’s environment court.
Sangma argues that the industry forms a large part of the impoverished state’s income and the prohibition violates tribal law. He also plans to propose an alternative plan to regulate mining and address the court’s environmental concerns.
In the letters, he does not say that his lawmaker wife, Dikkanchi D Shira, owns six mines in the state. However, Sangma has said his family’s interest in the mines was publicly known.
A senior federal government official with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed that Sangma had not talked about his family’s ownership of the mines during discussions with New Delhi.
In an interview, Sangma denied any conflict of interest. He said he had declared his family’s interest in the mines to the election commission during state elections in 2013, as required under the country’s polling laws. He had told the president of his political party about the mines as well.
“I was fortunate to get married to a rich wife, who inherited the mines,” Sangma said.
He said his wife’s mines were in “running condition,” but they stopped extracting coal after he first became chief minister of the state in 2010. Sangma has held several ministerial positions since 1998.
There is no law on conflict of interest in India for ministers. An expert said Sangma’s actions violate the government’s code of conduct that calls for ministers and their immediate families to sever ties with any business that depends “on licenses, permits, quotas, leases, etc., received or to be received from the government concerned.” The code is not legally binding and carries no penalties for violations.
