The Meghalaya Peoples Coal Traders Welfare Association (MPCTWA) has alleged that the so-called ‘high level’ people who are involved in illegalities in the mining and transportation of coal consist of a range of politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen.
“We have decided that we will not remain mere spectators to all these illegalities that are afflicting the livelihood of coal traders and revenue of the state so after this Republic Day we will send a memorandum to the Chief Minister, to all the Superintendents of Police and all the Deputy Commissioners to see that they intervene in the matter,” president of the MPCTWA, John Franky Rymbai, told reporters at a press conference here today.
Stating that if the government persists in ignoring these issues they will be forced to take other steps or even approach the courts, he said, “We all know that the coal was auctioned since April 2021 but the challan owners who won the bidding from Coal India Ltd never sold or issued the challan publicly until December 24, which amounted to a huge loss to the coal traders of the state. In Dawki to date coal cannot be exported internationally even though the challans have been issued in the last two months but the state government is keeping silent on all these matters as well,” he said.
Rymbai added that for 300-400 challans issued there are over 1,000 vehicles operating without due process and a challan that legally cost a maximum of Rs 70,000 now costs more than Rs 1 lakh.
Prior to the ban on rat-hole coal mining, traders who provided the required documents to the government and district council obtained the challans easily.
“At present, the SOP (standard operating procedures) of the state government, which keeps changing from time to time, and are complex in nature, are hard for the illiterate coal traders to understand. This is the reason we felt a need for an organization to assist the coal traders who are falling prey to the complex manipulated policies on the coal of the state government,” he said.
