ST Impact
From Our Correspondent
PHULBARI, Jan 13: Following a report published in The Shillong Times about the presence of a multitude of illegal stone quarries and stone crushers in various villagers under the Rajabala constituency in West Garo Hills (WGH) district, a team from the state’s Forest department swung into action in an attempt to bring a halt to the illegal acts.
A ground report and conversations with locals earlier pointed to the presence of at least 40 stone quarries in the two villages with locals pointing that there were more than 100 such set-ups in the villages of Balujhora, Malijhora, Babilgre, Thombagre, Katolbari, Pearadanga and Goalgaon, all of which fall under the same constituency.
Besides the presence of these illegal quarries, the area also has another seven illegal stone crushers, all of which operate without any form of licensing. These operators were continuing operations on a daily basis with stones being extracted through the day as well as night. The visit also found at least two of the stone crushers, one of which is a stone’s throw away from the AMPT road, operational.
Further, the villagers as well as sources from the nearby Forest Development Corporation of Meghalaya (FDCM) had informed about explosives being used in the extraction of stones. The villagers had claimed that close to 1,000 vehicles of stones were being extracted on a daily basis with big quarries producing 25 vehicles worth of product.
After the publication of the report on January 9, the team swung into action between January 9-10 where a team led by the Assistant Conservator of Forests visited the site of the illegal stone quarries and crushers.
As per the department, around a dozen quarries were being operated illegally most of which were less than 500 square feet in size. “The extraction was done through traditional methods and with tools like chisel, hammer, etc. Our inspection also revealed three illegal crushers in the area with none of them in operational condition,” the Forest department said.
It further said that closure notices were already served beforehand to illegal quarries and crushers and fresh notices are being served to many after publication of the news report.
“In the inquiry, the claim of more than 1,000 vehicles running per day was found to be absolutely untrue. The department had already been doing frequent patrolling and inspection, and since the publication of the report, it has increased its vigil multifold. It is expected that these illegalities will be contained in due course of time,” they added.
Efforts in thwarting such operations in the past few years have not yielded desired results due to information being leaked to the illegal quarry and crusher owners, who then quickly dismantle their setup leaving what they cannot carry. While such actions tend to put a temporary halt to such activities, once the enthusiasm dies down, things return to normal. The present case is one of such.
Early in 2024, another report had been published about illegal crushers and quarries in the same area, which led to a halt in quarrying for some time. As can now be clearly seen, the hiatus in such activities didn’t really last long.