JOWAI: Coal mining in East and West Jaintia Hills districts still continues with hundreds of coal mine owners throwing caution to the wind and resorting to rampant mining and extraction of coal in open violation of the ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
With the NGT lifted the ban on transportation of extracted and assessed coal lying in the open in East and West Jaintia Hills, Garo Hills and West and South West Khasi Hills, some coal mine owners are taking the opportunity to make a quick buck by resorting to mining of coal.
On Saturday last, Ladrymbai Police in East Jaintia Hills escorted by a Magistrate detected fifteen coal labourers who were extracting coal from the mines owned by E. Phawa and Topas Dkhar at Mookhep.
The labourers – Khian Bujal, Narayan Rai, Ganesh Chettri, Dilip Marak, Kamal Hajong, Raj Rai, Munab Barman, Dil Kumar Rai, Md. Abarsul Majid, Md. Aman Ali, Md. Abdul Rehman, Md. Tajbor Rehman, Jagadish Yadav, Md. Salim Uddin Chowdhury and Md. Ahmed Ali – were arrested for illegal extraction of coal. Interestingly the mine owners were not arrested. Meanwhile, East Jaintia Hills Police recently detected a dumper truck which was being used for illegal transportation of coal to a truck (NL-02-8019) to be carried to Karimganj in Assam. Incidentally, the truck capsized at Umtyra on NH-44.
Sources also informed that transportation and supply of coal to various cement plants in East Jaintia Hills still continues despite the NGT ban.
Coal is being transported to cement plants without transits challans which has affected the State government in term of revenue collection, the sources informed. Sec 144 CrPC in West Jaintia Hills
The District Magistrate of West Jaintia District has promulgated an order under Sec 144 CrPC prohibiting any act of coal mining by any person or group of persons within the district without the necessary environmental clearance of the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board.
The District Administration promulgated the order after receiving information that some miners were likely to resume mining in some parts of the District in violation of the orders passed by the NGT.
