A farmer at Madan Football Ground in East Jaintia Hills warned Shillong Lok Sabha bypoll candidates on June 9 that they would be met with rotten vegetables if they sought her vote, as public anger over a decade-old coal mining ban boiled over. The threat came during a rally backing Marshall S.B. Biam’s indefinite hunger strike, now in its ninth day, organised by the Jaintia Coal Owners, Miners, Suppliers and Workers Association (JCOMSWA) to press the government to address the economic fallout from the National Green Tribunal’s 2014 ban on coal mining and transportation.
Hundreds gathered to support Biam and demand urgent relief measures, saying the ban has devastated livelihoods across Jaintia Hills. “The region has been reeling under economic distress for over a decade and the ban has pushed many families into poverty and uncertainty,” the farmer told the crowd, accusing successive governments and elected representatives of neglecting communities that depended on coal for generations.
Speakers at the rally described sharp rises in unemployment, declining business activity and the loss of stable household incomes since mining stopped. They said many parents are now struggling to keep children in school as families cut educational expenses to survive. Protesters warned that proposals to lease mining rights to a small group of wealthy individuals would further marginalise ordinary citizens who once relied on the coal sector.
Organisations including the Jaintia Students’ Union (JSU) and the Jaintia National Council (JNC) joined the agitation and demanded immediate talks with the government. “Thousands of families, which once depended directly or indirectly on the coal industry, are now struggling to survive,” JSU general secretary N. Mukhim said, urging authorities to engage with the protesters.
Organisers vowed the agitation would continue until the government responded with meaningful steps to alleviate economic distress and restore livelihoods in the Jaintia Hills.
Original Source: https://theshillongtimes.com/2026/06/10/rotten-veggies-for-vote-seekers/
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Publish Date: 2026-06-10 03:33:00
