SHILLONG, Feb 23: Civil Society Women’s Organisation (CSWO) president, Agnes Kharshiing has petitioned the Meghalaya chief secretary, urging him to order an investigation into the “illegal” coke factories operating in different parts of the state.
In a memorandum to the chief secretary, Kharshiing said the organisation has information that the residents of Nongdaju and Shallang areas near the coke factories in Shallang were being affected from the pollution emitted by the factories and so were their crops in the farmlands.
She stated in the memorandum that during a recent visit to a coke factory, it was found that the factory had no signboard or name plate with labourers from Assam working there.
The CSWO president also questioned “how the government of Meghalaya could permit the mafia to carry on such illegal activities in the state, to scare the people, and how can the government officials keep quiet.”
Kharshiing said that residents from Nongdaju village had informed that illegal coal was rampant in the Shallang area and hundreds of trucks carry such coal every day and night.
“The coal is also provided to these coke factories with political and official patronage,” she alleged.
“We request an immediate investigation into these coke factories in West Khasi Hills district by experts, on the pollution, the healthcare, and the vegetation of the crops which need to be tested by the experts, besides immediate closure of the factories which are running illegally in these areas,” she stated.
Kharshiing further demanded a thorough investigation to find out if there was a mafia behind the illegal coal related activities in different parts of West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills and two districts of Jaintia Hills.