Probe illegal quarrying in Karbi Anglong: Gaurav Gogoi to PM Narendra Modi

Staff reporter

Guwahati: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president  and deputy leader of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding an independent investigation into what he described as “alarming illegal quarrying” in the Karbi Anglong district.

In his letter, Gogoi alleged that quarry operators in the Panimura range, originally permitted to extract 3 lakh cubic metres of stone over seven years from 2017, have instead carried out extraction exceeding 80 lakh cubic metres. He said this scale of violation poses a “grave threat” to the environment, public safety, and state revenue.

“This is not an isolated episode. It reflects a pattern of organized plunder of natural resources in Assam. The scale of extraction, the brazenness of violations, and the impunity with which they are carried out point to a deeper malaise,” Gogoi wrote.

The Congress MP recalled his earlier letters to the Prime Minister, citing incidents of illegal coal mining in Dima Hasao where nine workers lost their lives, and the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) findings in May 2025 that exposed a coal mining and transportation syndicate in Assam and Meghalaya. Despite assurances of inquiries and action, Gogoi said, “There has been no visible progress, deepening public concern and raising questions of accountability.”

He alleged that the illegal quarrying in Karbi Anglong was part of the same criminal syndicate that controls mineral extraction across the state. “The methods are the same: over-extraction, falsified records, organized transport, and political protection,” he stated, warning of collusion between operators, political actors, and officials.

Gogoi urged the PM to order an independent probe into the Panimura quarrying operations, review progress of earlier coal-related inquiries, suspend all unlawful activities immediately, and fix accountability on not just the operators but also officials and political patrons.

Also Read: Assam: Gaurav Gogoi reacts to summons to two eminent journalists

Also Watch: