Our Bureau
SHILLONG/ TURA/ NONGSTOIN, July 9: Following a PIL being filed in the High Court of Meghalaya and the court coming down heavily on the government, the process of dismantling of the various illegal coke factories that had been mushrooming in Shallang area in West Khasi Hills began in earnest on Sunday afternoon with the first going down. The plant destroyed on Sunday was owned by Balwan Bhama, the alleged kingpin of the illegal coal and coke business.
The development comes close on the heels of the arrest of four illegal coke plant owners by West Khasi Hills Police on June 26.
The arrested persons include Ashish Arya (Guwahati), Khrawbok Rongrin (Sohbar A, Shallang), Hopeful Nongtdu (Rymbai Synrang Shahkhain, East Jaintia Hills) and Yaman Bansal (Guwahati).
Government sources stated that at least another 46 more such illegal plants will be dismantled in the coming days with July 20 being set as the target date for its completion.
“There are a total of 57 such units in Shallang of which 47 have no legal framework for operation. They have no permissions from any quarter and no registered owners despite which they were being allowed to operate,” said a government source on condition of anonymity.
The decision of dismantling these illegal factories was taken during a high-level meeting held in Shillong earlier. The meeting called by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma was attended by Chief Secretary, DP Wahlang, and DGP LR Bishnoi along with other top government officials.
Given the situation, the chief minister sought the dismantling of the plants within July 10. However, given the paucity of time, the officials decided to ensure its completion by July 20.
“We will start again next week and finish as many as we can by the end of the week. We should be able to complete the dismantling by July 20,” added the government source.
Of the 47 illegal coke factories, many were owned by residents from Assam and other parts of India with quite a few of these illegal set ups even belonging to influential businessmen from the Garo Hills region who sought to take advantage of the lax administrative checks in West Khasi Hills.
At its peak, these factories were transporting at least 200 trucks of illegally produced coke per day to many parts of Assam through various routes in both Khasi Hills and Garo Hills.
“It is really astonishing that these illegal operations were not stopped when they started. Various administrations have passed through the district despite which no action was taken which is surprising to say the least. Were these people sleeping while these illegalities were taking place,” asked the highly placed government source.
The mushrooming of these coke plants began as early as in 2017, with the first few apparently getting their papers in order prior to operation. Within a few months others joined these setups looking to circumvent the ban on rat hole mining of coal from the state. As processed coal or coke was not under the ban, the business owners took advantage of the loophole and began to transport these to other parts of the country. The coal, of course, was allegedly locally sourced, indicating that rat-hole mining was still very much alive.
Complaints regarding the mushrooming of these coke plants in the Shallang area began very quickly after these set ups began operations. Many from nearby areas had complained of pollution from these factories making the air acrid and difficult to breathe into. These complaints however were strangely overlooked by both the government and the local administration.
“You need permission to operate even a cigarette shop anywhere in the state but these coke plants needed no such permissions showing just how deep the entire set up was entrenched. Without political patronage this just cannot be possible. The Court should also question how these were operating and at such scales,” a resident of WKH said on the condition of anonymity.
Warnings by the high court had been sounded many years ago when the court had sought answers from the state government and the administration though these were ignored or given little respect. However with the court now getting serious about the entire illegal set up as well as illegal mining of coal through rat-hole mining, action against the factories and those behind their set up is being seriously taken up.
With at least five of these factory owners already behind bars, search, as per police sources, is currently on to locate and arrest the rest of the owners. Most of them, however, are currently said to be on the run.