The Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) has defended Sevenborn Tang and said he was appointed as an agent to manage and control all forest revenue stations of the district council that are not classified as weighbridges.
Hours after the Hynñiewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO) lodged a complaint with the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission against East Jaintia Hills police for not acting on its FIR against Tang, the JHADC issued a clarification stating that Tang has been diligently discharging his duties as an outsource to operate the forest revenue stations for three years.
The JHADC stated that Tang has been regularly depositing the quarterly premium amount to the council. “The revenue generated and received under his management has shown a significant improvement in comparison to previous financial years, thereby contributing to the Council’s Forest revenue system,” it said.
On July 5, HITO had filed a FIR against Tang and accused him of illegally collecting money by operating a weighbridge cum forest checkpoint at Sonapur. Today, the group complained to the commission that its FIR was not acted upon by the police.
While HITO stated that through an RTI it was revealed that Tang was involved in collecting money in the name of the forest revenue station of the JHADC, the district council stated that the organisation had misinterpreted the RTI reply.
“The allegations levelled by HITO are entirely unfounded, misleading, and factually incorrect. It is evident that these claims have been made without any proper verification, factual cross-checking and research into the actual circumstances and ground realities,” the JHADC said.
According to the district council, it does not operate any weighbridge. It said that no forest revenue station is classified as weighbridge cum forest checkpoint and hence no agent is appointed.
The district council said that it has established many forest revenue stations under Rule 56 of the United Khasi & Jaintia Hills Autonomous District (Management and control of Forest) Rules, 1960 and have been operating and managing since its inception. Since collection of revenue from these stations was excessively low that it would not cover up even the salaries of the staff, the JHADC said the management of the forest revenue stations was outsourced to private parties to enhance revenue generation.
“In exercise of powers under section 12 of the United Khasi & Jaintia Hills Autonomous District (Management and control of Forest) Act, 1958, the management and control of all forest check stations (Revenue Stations) is outsourced to private party by way of tender process,” it said.
