A social activist has filed a complaint with Chief Secretary, Rebecca V Suchiang against the permission granted to a company to lift dumped coal from Gasuapara and transport it to Bangladesh.
Kingstone Bolwari, in his complaint claimed that there is no extracted coal dumped at Gasuapara but the order was apparently issued to facilitate fresh and illegal mining of the mineral from South Garo Hills.
According to Kingstone, the order granting permission to Guwahati-based Jai Maa Coal Private Limited was issued by the Under Secretary to the Government of Meghalaya on April 28 following which, an impugned order was issued by the Deputy Commissioner of South Garo Hills on April 29 pertaining to the transportation of coal lying at Gasuapara area to Bangladesh.
He alleged that while the government claims that the permission has been given to allow exporters to bring coal from outside to the Gasuapara Land Custom Station to be transported to Bangladesh, the reality was that the company was transporting coal freshly mined from South Garo Hills.
“There is no stranded coal lying at Gasuapara as claimed. Therefore giving permission to transport the mineral to Bangladesh will give scope to transport illegal and freshly mined coal from the district,” he said in his complaint.
Stating that there was no system in place to check the number of trucks and quantity of coal that is being transported from outside the state, Bolwari said this gives scope to illegal mining and transportation of coal from the State, which result in revenue loss to the government.
