Crude oil coming out of ground in few villages in Meghalaya: Congress MLA

A Congress MLA on Wednesday told the Meghalaya Assembly that some people in his constituency are claiming that crude oil is coming out of the ground in a few villages along the Indo-Bangladesh border and urged the government to inquire into the matter.

"People have reported that crude oil is coming out from the ground in a few villages in Mawsynram (his constituency)," Congress legislator Hima Shangpliang told the Assembly during the general discussion on the regulation of prices of petrol and diesel in the state.

The MLA told the government to inquire into this matter and find out the efficacy of this claim by the people and see if Meghalaya could also be in the list of oil producing states in the country.

In his reply, Taxation Minister James PK Sangma said, "This is a matter of the Central government. Exploration has to be done by the Centre. We will communicate the discovery after verification of the fact."

Later, Shangpliang told PTI that villagers in Umlynter and Weisohpiang area are claiming that crude oil is coming out of the ground.

"Some villagers have even collected the oil in buckets and are using it for their own use," he said.