How deep is the coal mining scam in Assam?

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Rajeev Bhattacharyya

Things could be heating up in Assam, with COVID-19 seeming to have prevented the people from hitting the streets. The issue this time around is not illegal immigrants but the government’s approval of coal mining in a proposed reserve forest in Dehing-Patkai Elephant Reserve along the state’s border with Arunachal Pradesh. The Assam Environmental NGO Forum, consisting of 20 groups, has demanded a complete ban on coal mining as the reserve has already suffered substantial damage.

After an outburst on the episode from different sections of people, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal tweeted that Minister of Environment and Forest Parimal Suklabaidya had been instructed to visit the region for “taking stock of the condition”, and that the government was committed to protect the environment. The assurance has hardly helped lessen fears, which have been compounded with new evidence emerging on the state government’s dreadful role in the incident.

With the assembly polls only 10 months away and its list of successes not many, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Assam government would not want to link its name with the mining in the reserve forest. Consider these developments:

After the controversy erupted, the government decided to initiate departmental proceedings against 12 Divisional Forest Officers (DFO) for their complicity in the illicit mining of coal in the forest. Certainly, the government has to be seen to be taking some action, but rumour is that there are many politicians and highly-placed officials involved in these activities.

The evidence comes from an internal report compiled by the state department of environment and forest in July, which was based on field visits by two senior officials. The report categorically underscored the involvement of “other agencies/depts” in the racket. No action was taken on this report, which has now been put on the backburner. So why has the government ignored this report?

Coal has been mined legally and illegally in the Dehing-Patkai forest region for some time now. The current controversy stems from the mining that Coal India Ltd has carried out since 2003 without permission in a proposed reserved forest called Saleki within the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve. This is in gross violation of the Assam Forest Regulation Act 1891, and Forest (Conservation) Act 1980.

The government’s reply to an RTI query from environment activist Rohit Choudhury revealed that 39 percent of forest land in the proposed reserve forest has already been mined. Such rampant destruction of the forest could not have happened without the knowledge of the state government, including the previous Congress regimes.

News reports quoting official documents suggest that the State Board of Wildlife (SBWL) under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister recommended the proposal to the ministry of environment, forest and climate change for diversion of 98.59 hectares of land in Saleki for open cast mining. Based on the recommendation, the National Board of Wildlife also gave the green signal for open cast mining at Saleki early in April, during the lockdown.

Incidentally, all the illicit syndicates in Assam came to a halt after the lockdown was announced on March 24. The seizure of a coal truck by the police at Kokrajhar along Assam’s border with West Bengal three weeks ago signalled the revival of illegal coal mining. Certainly, the truck could not have travelled undetected all the way from eastern Assam without the approval of highly placed officials and even politicians.

This apart, local TV news channels have been highlighting the names of politicians and officials involved in the racket. On December 6, DY365, an Assamese satellite news channel, even named an official close to Sonowal, and alleged that large sums of money was pocketed through this scam. The government is yet to come out with a clarification challenging the news reports.

Likewise, in September, the ministry of environment forest and climate change requested the Assam government to provide information as to why the details of the violations by Coal India Ltd, as sought by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC), was not provided for six years. The Sonowal government is yet to answer.

The central and state government, both led by the BJP, must not only realise the ecological fragility of the region but also swiftly act to stop any further degradation. If the perpetrators of this crime against nature are brought to book it will help the Sonowal government, which will soon face the test of the people.

Rajeev Bhattacharyya is a Guwahati-based senior journalist. Views are personal.