Authorities in East Jaintia Hills district have seized approximately 6000 metric ton of illegally mined coal, as on May 9.
According to authorities, in compliance with the directions from the High Court of Meghalaya and the Directorate of Mineral Resources (DMR), a joint team of an Executive Magistrate, East Jaintia Hills District, police department and DMR officials conducted a raid in the district.
During the raid, coal was discovered to be dumped outside the officially inventorised coordinates.
The coal was seized on the spot by the team and following the seizure, the coal was transported to a Coal India-authorised depot for safe custody,” East Jaintia Hills Deputy Commissioner stated in a press statement on Saturday.
District authorities also informed that FIR has been registered under provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR) and further investigation is underway.
It may be mentioned that, the 28th interim report filed by Justice (Retd) BP Katakey Committee has revealed the detection of huge quantity of undocumented coal outside the Coal India Limited designated depots amounting to 1,92,840 tonnes, of which 1,80,299.48 has been detected in East Jaintia Hills.