Shillong:
The boulders excavated at Rngaiñ were to be used for road construction by the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL).
Speaking to The Meghalayan, an official in the Forest department said, “The precaution should have taken place; it is excavation for the road purpose and it is not for the pure intention of mining; it is not mining purpose.”
“They have to bring the stone to the road level and ensure there is no slope as far as road construction is concerned,” the official said.
Asked if any mining operations are ongoing in Rngaiñ, the official said it is incidental mining within their (the authorities working on the road project) right of way and should not be done outside of it.
However, the official said that precautions should have been used in such a situation, and that too being the main road.
“Whoever carried out the operation should have been more careful,” the official said. The mining leases granted were for boulders.
When pointed out that there are allegations of boulders being exported to Bangladesh, the official responded that the existence of check gates and the requirement of proper challans should disabuse any notion of trucks passing through undetected.
“We have a system and we have check gates,” the official reiterated.
It may be mentioned that the Rngaiñ landslide led to the deaths of two persons on April 14— the Rangbah Shnong of Wahlyngkhat Seiborlang Jaktung and one Krejunlang Khongjirem.
The official further informed that there are a total of nine mining leases that were granted along the Umtyngar–Pynursla stretch.
Last year, there were 10 illegalities that had been closed and an offence report drawn; seven mines along the stretch were given closure notices.
It may be mentioned that the National Green Tribunal in 2021 imposed a fine of over Rs 150 crore as environmental compensation to be recovered from 133 units of stone quarry/crushers/miners for illegally operating in the state.
It is learned that notices were issued to these units.