TURA, March 14: Acting swiftly on reports of hundreds of illegal stone quarries being run between the Chibinang – Bikkonggre – Dadenggre Road and its adjacent places, the state Forest department, on Monday, immediately swung into action to act on the matter.
Confirming the development, DFO of West and South West Range, Rupankar Marak, informed that personnel from their department were already at the villages of Chambakpara and Dodangre since Monday morning to take matters into account.
The development comes in the wake of a report published by The Shillong Times on Monday, captioned “Illegal stone quarries flourish near Phulbari”.
“We are taking action against persons that are involved in the illegal stone quarrying. This will also include the Nokmas. These will be forwarded to Court as per the MMDR Act, 1957. Our actions will continue for the next few days until everyone is booked for indulging in this illegal activity,” said the DFO.
The ST report had raised the issue of illegal stone quarrying in the various locations across the road near Chibinang with small setups continuing to operate despite a ban on such activities by the West Garo Hills (WGH) district administration. While the exact numbers may be hard to predict, many locals put the number close to 500 across the area.
In what is going to become a welcome move, Rupankar confirmed that signboards with regard to the MMMCR 2016 and MMDR Act will be installed soon under the District Mineral Fund so that people are more aware of the Acts and Rules in place. “Our Nokmas especially need awareness as custodians of the land so that they will serve the interest of the people and the community,” he added.
Meanwhile, the DFO added that though the number of quarries stated could be exaggerated, they would still look into it as much as was humanly possible for them.
The Forest department visited many of the quarry sites while also confiscating materials from these, on Monday.