Quantity of coal assessed differs significantly from the stock lying at the depot
From Biplab Kr Dey
NONGSTOIN, Feb 18: The coal-rich village of Maweit is situated in one of the remotest corners of Meghalaya with the lone road leading to it in utter shambles. The almost 30-km drive from Nongstoin, the district headquarter of West Khasi Hills, takes more than 2 hours even in the sturdiest of vehicles and the ride will only wish for one to seek an end to it.
The village, part of the rich coal belt in the district, has several locations around it with varying seam levels of coal. So when a request for the setting up of a Coal India Limited (CIL) depot for seized illegal coal was placed, permission was immediately granted.
However the intention of setting up a depot in Maweit has now come into question after it was found that the CIL depot only had about 2,000 MT tons of coal against what was auctioned by the state (close to 34,000 MT) with the role of the Magistrate in charge of assessing the coal as well as that of the Directorate of Mineral Resources inspector coming into question.
A source from the district had earlier informed this scribe on the Maweit CIL depot and how there were attempts to over-value the amount of coal to allow for the free movement of illegally-mined coal through the state using challans that would be issued for it. The investment was huge for those that paid for the challans but the returns would be better.
As per sources, even for the 2,000-3,000 MT of coal that are currently in the depot, nothing, as mandated by CIL has been followed.
“Transport from the pit to the depot has to be undertaken by the transporter assigned by the CIL. Further weight challans from a certified weight bridge is also a must to ensure measures are not missed. Nothing of this sort has been done,” said the source.
A visit to the village of Maweit to check the CIL depot present there showed several dumps of coal strewn inside the compound with a gateman preventing unauthorised entry. Photos and videos taken from outside and the nearby hills (in order to not arouse suspicion) showed the presence of coal inside but considerably lesser than what was auctioned.
Near the CIL depot, a few dumps of coal could be seen, though even if that is taken into account, it would not add much to the already present coal within the depot.
“Even untrained eyes can understand the quantity as there were hardly 100-150 dumps of coal. That would mean that the coal present in the depot is hardly 2,000 MTs but they auctioned close to 34,000 MT. This raises serious questions on the process of assessment and auction and the integrity of the agencies meant to check these,” felt the source.
The source felt the magistrate and the DMR inspector in charge of assessment of the coal present in the depot need to be questioned on how they could pass off such reports despite the glaring differences in assessed against present coal stock.
Further the source added that ever since the auction of coal from the depot, not a ton of coal has been moved from the Maweit depot. He however felt that despite this, challans from Maweit may already have been used for coal transport through West Khasi Hills and in other districts.
Attempts to contact the ADC in charge of the auction and the passing of the inflated numbers were unsuccessful with both calls and messages going unanswered. So too were the attempts to contact the district DMR office for clarification on the matter.