SHILLONG: The NGT Committee headed by former judge, Justice B P Katakey has stated that illegal transportation of coal is still taking place in the state even as there was no permission for transporting of coal by any court of law from January 1, 2019
The statement came from Katakey after holding the 18th sitting of the committee constituted by the NGT here on Monday.
Talking to media persons here, Katakey also added that illegal extraction of coal had been reduced by 80 percent in the state
Informing that the Committee has received a representation from one individual alleging that illegal coal mining is still taking place in West Khasi Hills, Katakey said that even the State Government had said that there might be some problems in the areas and hence inquiry is being conducted into the matter after which the report will be submitted to the committee.
He also informed that Ri Bhoi Youth Federation recently shared a video with the NGT about an alleged illegal transportation of coal and based on the clip, the Committee had asked a report from Ri Bhoi SP on the matter.
“In his report, the SP admitted 49 cases of illegal transportation of coal being registered from January 1 till the time of submission of the report but he has not taken any actions since no complaint was filed ,” he said
However, the committee has rejected the report of the Superintendent of Police by expressing its displeasure and has asked the Additional Director General of Police to submit a full report on the matter before the Committee
There were also allegations that some trucks were not issued transit passes by DMR but by police itself to which the ADGP in the meeting clarified that police personnel are putting their signatures on the transit challans so that it cannot be reused
“If police is issuing the transit permit, it is a serious violation of the law and we have sought a complete report on the matter,” he said.
The Committee also detected a serious monopoly in the Gasuapara Land Customs Station in South Garo Hills saying the Committee was informed in a report that the particular land custom station issued only 3 challans to 3 trucks for 9 mt each to export coal to Bangladesh in May this year
However, the report from Customs department said that they have allowed 461 trucks to cross over to Bangladesh during the same period.
The Committee has directed the Meghalaya Government to inquire into the matter and find out as to who is involved in this activity and the report has to pinpoint the officer who is doing such illegal activity.
Refusing to say that the State Government failed to control illegal mining in the state, the State Government may have been delayed in noticing the extraction of illegal transportation of coal
He also said that the police department in Meghalaya laments that they don’t have sufficient manpower to stop illegal mining and transportation of coal and the Committee had recommended to the NGT that it should impress upon the Centre to deploy more central forces here but the NGT said that the matter needs to be taken up by the State Government itself.
