The Jaintia Students’ Union (JSU) delegation led by Education Secretary Bocheru Mi Pohsnem, in the present of its President Jersom Shylla and Assistant Finance Secretary Wansalan Dame Patwet, has officially finalized their evidence submission and filed their original application before the NGT Eastern Zone Bench in Kolkata.
“The 10 days of ultimatum to the state has officially ended with absolute silence and zero action from the authorities regarding our complaints and FIRs. We strongly condemn the Govt of Meghalaya, the police, and allied departments for their deliberate inaction and failure to protect indigenous citizens.
We are bringing this fight to the NGT to expose a devastating double standard: If the NGT can ban local coal miningstripping our people of their livelihoods for the sake of the environment, then the exact same rules MUST apply to the proposed 217.394 hectare corporate mining project by Shree Cement.
As promised, our fight does not end at the Tribunal. Apart from seeking a just environmental decision from the NGT, the Union will also officially move the High Court of Meghalaya. We will demand strict accountability and legal action against the State Government for its gross dereliction of duty and complicity in these events.
We are seeking justice through every legal avenue available. However, if the High Court dismisses our plight and treats the indigenous citizens of Jaintia Hills like cockroaches, we will show them the true power of cockroaches. We will survive, we will multiply, and we will paralyze the very machinery that seeks to destroy us and our ancestral lands. Do not test our resilience. The youth is watching.”
“We have submitted physical evidence via a Pen Drive to the NGT, including, the severe, life-threatening distress of a pregnant woman trying to rush for medical help, who was blocked because the public road at Daistong was maliciously dug up and destroyed by Shree Cement supporters. Proof of a violent, late-night mob attack by armed miscreants on a JSU emergency ambulance and its medical team. Supporters illegally digging up PWD roads to deliberately block peaceful protesters from reaching the sham public hearing”.
