Congress legislator and member of the Assembly committee on the environment, Himalaya Shangpliang, today said that the coke factories that are operating illegally in the State have taken the whole government for a ride.
He reiterated that a commission of inquiry should be set up so that the people behind these illegalities are exposed and punished according to the law.
“The State Pollution Board should have also taken cognizance and applied the relevant laws against these illegal coke factory owners and not waited for somebody to point it out to them. I suppose the state and central pollution board and the Ministry of Environment and Forests along with the district administration and the Superintendent of Police should have taken cognizance of the complaints that people under Elaka Sutnga have already lodged a long time back and seen that all these illegal coke factories are shut down immediately,” he told Highland Post.
Recently, videos purporting to show how much air pollution is released by these coke factories went viral and have stirred up a storm.
“I wonder how can these people be bold enough to set up these illegal factories costing more than Rs 2 crores. Who authorized the set-up of these factories?” he asked. “Each coke factory has a minimum of 200 chambers where they burn coal and each chamber requires about a tonne of coal to burn for the whole night, which means that each coke factory will require not less than 100 tonnes. Where are these volumes of coal coming from?”
Stating that the commission of inquiry will also have to look into the coal that is supplied to the coke factories, he informed that the environment committee will soon submit a report on these matters to the Speaker of the Assembly so that it can be placed on the floor of the house by the Autumn session.
Only two or three coke factories have obtained consent to operate (CTO) from the state pollution board, while a few more have applied but the rest, numbering up to 35, are all operating outside the law.
“What we were given to understand is that these people were given NOCs (no-objection certificates) by the Dollois, Dorbar Shnongs, etc but not the CTE from the State Pollution Board, but they have gone ahead and constructed and are illegally functioning, assuming that the government will grant them permission in due course,” Shangpliang said. “One of the illegal coke factory operators told us that he has already put in the papers and hoped to get clearance but had gone ahead and begun operations.”
The Congress MLA supported those members of the public who have stood up to the illegal coke factories and said that it is time that the state government come down heavily against violators.
