From Our Correspondent
Tura, Nov 13: As if the advancing extent of timber smuggling and illegal timber mills was not enough, the plain belt of West Garo Hills is now being the hub of growing number of illegally operating stone quarries that are destroying most of the landscape right in front of the noses of authorities.
Earlier too a similar situation had arisen after many minor and major quarries had mushroomed in the plain belt in addition to many illegal stone crushers.
Following reports of their presence and directions from the High Court of Meghalaya, action was taken by state forest officials to shut these illegal operators down.
While things were quiet for about a year, the menace of illegally extracting stones in collusion with the land owners and Nokmas has taken off with a vengeance. The area in question falls under the purview of the GHADC.
Information of the presence of at least 10 such quarries carrying out operations without any form of permissions were provided by locals.
Forest Development Corporation of Meghalaya (FDCM) office provided further inputs on what was taking place in the region. A source from the office stated that explosives were being used in stone extraction despite their objections.
“One time, a quarry that is just behind our office used dynamite. The impact of the explosion was such that our office was hit with debris. When we rushed to the spot to see what was happening everyone had run away. This is a normal occurrence in almost all the quarries,” said one of the FDCM employees.
Interestingly, they added that information of the illegal extraction was provided to higher ups though for reasons best known to them, no action has been taken either by GHADC or the State Forest Department. But the loot has continued unabated.
“There are 4-5 stone crushers, to add to over a dozen illegal quarries, in our area as well and we know for sure that they do not have licenses to operate.
There is no one here to check on these wanton illegal acts. What is even more interesting is that the GHADC has a small gate in the village without any form of markings to show it belongs to the Council.
However 3-4 employees always man this gate. We have not seen them do anything other than collect ‘fees’ from the vehicles that bring illegal stones and timber,” stated a local from Gomaijhora on condition of anonymity.
Upon being contacted on the matter, chief forest officer of GHADC, Rangkhu N Sangma said that he would send an inquiry team to check on what was taking place.
He also added that the check gate there may be compromised and action would be taken subsequent to the investigation by their team.
“We will act on them after an inquiry and also seek a permanent solution to this menace,” said the GHADC CFO.