Strong cartel of coal barons working as mastermind

FROM OUR STAFF CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, Jan 29: A cartel involving the coal barons of the rich coal belts of Khasi-Jaintia Hills and a section of local middlemen are collectively involved in facilitating the coal laden trucks to evade the government weigh bridge at Umling in Ri-Bhoi.

Based on the tiol Green Tribul (NGT)order that allow the transportation the extracted coal after the payment of royalty and other cess, a number of coal traders have started to transport coal to the coal depots in Assam.

However, a section of the coal traders in their bid have been using all escaping methods to avoid further payment of taxes. The last being the Umling weigh bridge where they used the local middlemen to channelized the coal laden trucks through 20th mile of the tiol Highway through the Sohkwai village to evade the taxes /cess as laid down by the government.

The Ri Bhoi District administration learnt about the discreet operations and the Deputy Commissioner Pooja Pandey clamped prohibitory orders in and around the weigh bridge to deter the unscrupulous practices.

The police under the Superintendent of Police (SP) carried out a surprised check to deter the subtle practices on January 26. They were greeted with a violent mob, a reason that the police was force to fire in the air to disperse them.

The source, without an iota of doubt attributed the links of a section of the coal traders with the local middlemen for the evasion. “Already cases have been registered against the people purportedly involved,” the source said, even as he refused to me the barons or middlemen that have been listed as suspects.

Till filing of the report, Village headmen of the area of occurrence are meeting with the SP in Nongpoh. They are trying to put their point even as they washed their hands of being directly or indirectly involved with the interested business groups.

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