Meghalaya Government Serious About Monitoring Illegal Charcoal Transportation: CM

Conrad Sangma, the chief minister of Meghalaya, said in front of the legislature on Wednesday that the state government is committed to stopping the illicit trafficking of charcoal in the region. The Meghalaya Charcoal (Control of Production, Storage, Trade, and Transport) Regulations, 2008 have been modified as a result, he said, and this took place in 2019.

According to the new regulations, producers and stockists of charcoal must submit an application for registration to the relevant Divisional Forest Officer, and they may renew their registration after a year with the prior consent of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests.

Sangma was responding to a motion to draw attention made by MLA Mayralborn Syiem of the United Democratic Party, who cited a media article on the forest department's inability to stop the unlawful shipment of charcoal in the northeastern state.

95 metric tonnes of charcoal have been confiscated in the last five years, according to the chief minister, and 23 charges have been filed for its illegitimate manufacturing, transportation, and storage, according to Sangma. Charcoal is mostly used by the ferro alloys industry.

In addition to the 23 instances that were registered in the Ri-Bhoi and West Khasi Hills districts during the last five years, a total of Rs 2.60 lakh was realised as compounding fees, according to Sangma. However he said that neither Reserved Woods nor Protected Forests in the two districts have any evidence of unlawful charcoal manufacture.