TURA: Alleging that a number of saw mills and stone quarries in Phulbari area of West Garo Hills District are functioning illegally, several local organisations on Monday submitted a joint complaint to the West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner urging him to put an immediate stop to their operation.
The joint complaint was submitted by the AHAM, FAF, AAYF and GSU, all based at Phulbari. According to the organisations, the illegal saw mills are being operated from Takima (Mongjigri), Rongmatchok, Janjalagri, Bangganggri, Masangpani, Chaprabudi and Kalapani, while a lone stone quarry is also functioning illegally at Rongmatchok. The organisations alleged that all these mills and quarries were established secretly without the knowledge of the concerned authorities and repeated complaints to the owners have failed to get results. “Their greed for money has led to lawless and illegal felling of trees which will lead to ecological imbalance in nature in the future. We urge you to look into the matter and close down these illegal establishments,” they said.
Teer counters
Meanwhile, they also claimed that many teer counter operators from the area are illegally operating 3-4 numbers of counters with single licences thereby evading paying tax to the government.
The organisations urged the DC to conduct checks on the counters and take action against those functioning illegally.
