Shillong, May 3: Retired Justice BP Katakey has sought a report from the state government to know whether the state had complied with the directions of NGT and Supreme Court on illegal coal mining and transportation.
Katakey said he had given one week’s time to get the response from the government.
On April 29, the High Court of Meghalaya had brought back Katakey to monitor illegal coal mining.
The court had asked Katakey to file a preliminary report dealing with the directions issued by the Supreme Court and the NGT that have been complied with and, more importantly, suggesting expeditious steps to comply with the outstanding directions, including the transportation and sale of the available coal.
Katakey was also entrusted to look into the measures adopted by the state to ensure that there is no unregulated or illegal coal mining or any instance of rat-hole mining anywhere.
Activist writes to CS on coal issue
Activist Kingstone Bolwari has petitioned Chief Secretary Rebecca Suchiang against the order of under secretary, Mining and Geology Department and the DC, South Garo Hills for granting permission to Jai Maa Coal Pvt. Ltd to transport coal lying at Gasuapara area to Bangladesh,
He said there is no coal lying at Gasuapara and granting permission will give scope to transport freshly mined coal from South Garo Hills to Bangladesh.
He also wanted the government to know the credentials of Jai Maa Coal Pvt. Ltd.
Bolwari said mining and geology department had claimed that it is allowing the exporters to bring coal from outside the state to transport to Bangladesh via Gasuapara land custom station but in reality the Jai Maa Coal Pvt. Ltd. is transporting coal originating from South Garo Hills to Bangladesh.
