HT Correspondent
MARGHERITA, Jan 29: The Gauhati High Court has taken suo motu cognizance of the ongoing illegal rat-hole coal mining in Assam and has compelled the state government to provide an explanation.
The High Court has questioned how this illegal coal mining, previously banned by the Supreme Court, is still continuing and has sought a resolution on the matter.
L Ratan Singh, general secretary of International Human Rights Council, Tinsukia District Committee, stated that the illegal coal mining was not a recent occurrence but had been ongoing for decades where he had emphasised that regardless of whether the Congress, AGP, BJP or any political parties who were in power, this illegal business had continued because a large amount of money from coal mining and its illegal trade was funneled into the government system, both legally and illegally.
According to the committee, “The crucial issue now is to conduct a thorough investigation into how and where the revenue collected from illegal coal mining is being channeled as the committee has urged the High Court to continue its investigation and take strict action against those responsible, whether individuals or organizations,” said L Ratan Singh.
“The committee has pointed out that the government and administration cannot take strict action against illegal coal mining without proper authorization and if the government and administration are truly committed to curbing irregularities, then why has the main culprit behind the Umrangso accident not been arrested yet,” inquired Singh.
Jagadish Bhuyan expressed concern over the rampant illegal coal mining in the region, despite the state government’s efforts to stop it and criticized the state government, police and forest department for their failure to prevent illegal mining, which has led to significant loss of North Eastern Coalfields Coal India ltd Margherita.