Govt directs action against illegal transportation of coal

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 29, 2020

The state government has directed authorities concerned to take action on the alleged illegal transportation of coal in the state.

“We have given clear instruction to all departments concerned, deputy commissioners and superintendents of police to check if the allegation is true or not and also to make sure that illegal transportation of coal or any items does not happen in the state,” Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong told reporters on Tuesday.

The direction also came a day after a group of ministers had requested the intervention of the Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma into alleged rampant illegal transportation of coal in the state.  

These ministers are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), People’s Democratic Front (PDF) and Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP), which are coalition partners of the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government.  

Asked, Tynsong said all coalition partners in the government are against illegal movement of coal trucks adding “from day one itself, as MDA government, we are deadly against it.”

“Therefore, the government has directed all concerned to strictly check and ensure there is no illegal transportation of coal as ultimately this will affect the government’s exchequer,” he further added.

The deputy chief minister, who had led a delegation of ministers to the chief minister yesterday, also reminded that it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that no illegalities take place from any quarters.

To another query, Tynsong however said not all coal trucks plying on the state and national highways are illegal.

“This is because for seized coal, we are issuing challans. Therefore, we cannot say all trucks plying are illegal as some of them are plying with legal papers,” he said adding, however there are also some with no legal papers and that is why a clear instruction has been issued on this regard.