To get around the ban on rat-hole mining, fresh coal is being illegally extracted from West Khasi Hills and passed off as having come from Nagaland, Justice (retd) BP Katakey, who heads a one man commission on the subject, has been told.
According to the complaint dated December 28, which was shared with the media today, coal is being mined in Goreng, West Khasi Hills, illegally but is then washed, as it were, using fake invoices that purport to show that it has originated in Nagaland and is meant to be exported to Bangladesh.
One such consignment of coal is lying in South Garo Hills at a designated coal depot in Rongsawe near the Gasuapara land customs station. The Deputy Commissioner of South Garo Hills had, on December 20, issued a transportation order to one Katman T Sangma to export 5,000 tonnes of this coal to Bangladesh.
A similar complaint was made in February 2024, again naming Sangma as the perpetrator.
The current complaint states that while the DC permitted 5,000 tonnes of coal to be transported, there is actually only around 300-400 tonnes at Rongsawe. The complainant also named one Raja Das as another alleged perpetrator.
