Meghalaya Complaints Against 8 Cement Cos For Violation Forest Act

Shillong, Mar 11 : Meghalaya government has received complaints against eight cement companies for violating the forest conservation act and a committee has been formed to inquire into the cases, officials said today.

Very large scale clearing/deforestation/breaking of non-recorded and non-notified natural forests is taking place in Jaintia Hills district for establishing/operating limestone mining/cement plants on the strength of faulty, vague and subservient certificates being issued by state government officials, a letter from the North Eastern Regional Office of the Ministry of Environment and Forests to the Centre said.

"It is amazing to know that not even a single cement plant of Meghalaya, mostly in Jaintia Hills district, has sought statutory prior approval of Central government whereas about 8-10 of such operating plants are in possession of more than 1000 ha of land which can only be categorized as deemed forests," the complaint, a copy of which was communicated to the state government, said.

Chief Conservator Forests of the MOEF regional office B N Jha said the state government was not paying any heed despite repeated requests from his office to stop immediately such operations by the cement companies who claimed to have got necessary clearances from the state government.

According to the complaint, the MOEF regional office also conducted site visits and "found large chunks of hills, and other lands bearing virgin and good natural vegetation cover being leased/ transferred/ sold to cement companies/ existing cement companies/ upcoming plants and they are using thousands of hectares of deemed forest land for various non-forest purposes."

The state government has constituted a committee to look into the matter, official sources said.

According to government sources, two of the eight companies against whom complaints have been received were granted clearances "unconditionally", two others on condition of clearance by State Environment Impact and Assessment Authority and in four cases no clearance was issued by the state government.

It is under investigation as to whether the cement companies provided correct and true information regarding the status of land they were using, the sources said.