SHILLONG: In a major development, the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal has ordered all loaded trucks to pay tax at the weighbridges in Meghalaya.
The NGT Principal Bench gave the order while conducting a hearing on Thursday.
Counsel for the Meghalaya government, Ranjan Mukherjee, informed that trucks other than those carrying coal were earlier passing through the weighbridge without paying any toll but now it is imperative for all goods-carrying trucks to pay the tax at the weighbridges under the Weighbridge Rules 2009.
During the hearing, the Meghalaya Transport department urged that the check gates at Dalu and Garampani needed to be made functional following which the NGT has allowed an extension till May 31.
NGT to hear Wahumkhrah
case on May 27
The issue of protection of the Wahumkhrah River will come for hearing in the National Green Tribunal on May 27. However, the matter will be taken up at the Kolkata Bench of the Tribunal.
State’s counsel, Ranjan Mukherjee, observed that the hearing should be held in Shillong it is a case related to a river in Meghalaya.
The NGT’s Special Circuit Bench of the Eastern Zone had, in January last, directed the Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to demolish all the unauthorized constructions along the banks of the Wahumkhrah and Umshyrpi rivers in accordance with the provisions of the law within three months after hearing a petition filed by Shillong-based environmentalist Naba Bhattacharjee.
The Tribunal passed this order after taking cognizance of the submission made by Mukherjee about the ruling of the Divisional Bench of the Gauhati High Court in 2011 which had permitted MUDA to carry out an inspection along the river banks of Wahumkhrah to identify various unauthorized constructions.
