Coal miners and traders in Meghalaya challenged the lockdown 's mass defiance of what is perceived as the attempt of the state government to "take coal to Newcastle."
On May 6, the government issued an order allowing the transportation of coal from Assam and other states for cement plants here, some of them in the district East Jaintia Hills. The ‘irony’ of the order was not lost on many in the district whose economy began suffering after the National Green Tribunal banned the rat-hole coal mining in April 2014.
“We have set the government a four-day deadline,” said Shanbor Lamare, secretary of the Jaintia Coal Miner and Dealer Association. “We will defy the lockdown if the government fails to heed our demand,” said Albinus Lamurong of the Meghalaya People’s Labour Union, Jaintia Hills.
