Coke unit to be taken to court

SHILLONG, Oct 2: The Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board will drag an illegal coke unit to court for violating a closure notice.
An official from the Board said the closure notice was issued to all Illegal units in Jaintia Hills and during verification, all, except one, was found to have been shut down.
“We are proceeding to the court seeking necessary action (against the unit) as per the provisions of the law,” the official said.
The Board, which conducted an inspection in September, will conduct another inspection soon in the area.
The official said similar closure notices were served on the illegal coke factories in West Khasi Hills. As the courts are functioning again now, the board hopes that necessary directions will be issued to the illegal factories operating there, the official said.
Fearing health hazard, the residents of East Jaintia Hills have already vented their ire against the mushrooming of illegal coke factories in their neighbourhood and are demanding their closure.
Recently, the state government had announced the formation of an expert panel to extensively study the damage caused by coke factories. It has time and again asserted that punitive action will be initiated against any coke units found flouting the norms but nothing happened on the ground.