A CORRESPONDENT
BOKO: Hundreds of trucks laden with coal transported illegally from Meghalaya have entered Assam over the last two to three nights via the Hahim area under the Boko Police Station.
The driver of a coal-laden truck, Tayabur Rahman, said that tonnes of coal were sent to Assam from the Shallang area under the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya.
Another truck driver, Kabul Hussain, said that 26 to 32 tonnes of coal are loaded in every truck. He also added that they don't carry any documents such as challan, GST etc.
Another driver, Hatim Ali, said that they don't know about the requirement of documents. "To bring the coal from Meghalaya to Assam, we have to pay Rs 1.05 lakh per truck to brokers in Shallang", he added. It may be mentioned that the coal-laden trucks enter at around midnight every day from the Shallang area from Meghalaya into the Hahim, Lalmati and Mouman areas in Assam through the Riangdo-Hahim road. In the process, the illegally coal-laden trucks cross the Shallang Police Station and the Athiabati Police Outpost in Meghalaya and the Hahim Police Outpost and Boko Police Station areas in Assam. Villagers of the Hahim area said that due to the overloaded trucks entering Hahim-Boko from Meghalaya, the newly-constructed road will be damaged very soon. It may be mentioned that the road was reconstructed two years ago after 30 years.
"We don't want the entry of overloaded trucks into this village road. Otherwise, the road will be damaged very soon and it will destroy the development of our remote area", said a local villager on the condition of anonymity.
A PWD official of the Boko area said that if trucks enter the Boko-Hahim road carrying 32 tonnes of coal, the total weight of the trucks becomes around 40 tonnes. However, the road's maximum bearing capacity is around 20 tonnes. As such, if the plying of coal-laden trucks continues then the road will be damaged very soon, the official said.
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