Meghalaya panel to study impact of coke units

Decision follows relentless protests by locals in East Jaintia Hills district

September 15, 2021 11:29 am | Updated 11:29 am IST - GUWAHATI:

Environment and Forest Minister James P.K. Sangma

Environment and Forest Minister James P.K. Sangma

The Meghalaya government has decided to form an expert panel to comprehensively study the impact of coke factories in the State.

The decision follows a string of protests by the people of Sutnga in East Jaintia Hills district against polluting coke units, many of which are allegedly illegal.

According to the State’s Environment and Forest Minister James P.K. Sangma, the committee will recommend environmental safeguards, besides addressing public health issues, forest clearances and pollution load study.

The Minister told the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly on Tuesday that the Single Window Agency had in principle approved 48 coke plants in East Jaintia Hills district. Projects cleared by the agency only need consent to establish (CTE) and consent to operate (CTO) to start functioning.

“The Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board granted CTE to 13 coke units and CTO to nine. But the pollution board served closure notices (under relevant laws) to 30 units that did not have CTE,” he said.

Mr. Sangma said the pollution board conducted an inspection later and found that 24 units had shut down after the closure notice but the factory was operating in violation of the closure notice. A case would be registered against this unit, he added.

The local Environment Coordination Committee of Sutnga area has said it will file a public interest litigation plea in the High Court of Meghalaya if the State fails to take action against illegal coke plants.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.