Assam: Illegal Coal Mining Harming The Patkai Hills Ecosystem

TINSUKIA: The Patkai hills have lost their lustre as a result of unabated illicit coal mining in the Ledo-Margherita area of Assam's Tinsukia district.

Previously, the area was home to Singpo, Sema Nagas, Tangsa, Tai-Phake, Syam, Aitom, Nocte, and other communities that had been damaged by mining and deforestation in the Patkai Hills.

They are the original residents of the Patkai hill region, but due to mining, they were forced to relocate to Arunachal Pradesh's Tirap district.

“The illegal mining is destroying the ecology of the Patkai hills.

“It has a disastrous impact on the environment of the region.

“Due to unabated illegal mining, the entire area’s flora and fauna have been lost.

“Last ten years ago the Patkai hills have been green but nowadays it has lost its greenery.

“Earlier, when we passed through the Margherita-Ledo area we found the green vegetation on the foothills of Patkai hills but now it has lost all its glory,” stated  a journalist who has worked on environmental issues.

Collieries in Ledo-Margherita were established beginning in 1885 and were placed under the administrative supervision of the Assam Railways and Trading Company.

Coal is extracted at Ledo-Margherita utilising a variety of processes around the Namdang hills' foothills.

Locals from adjacent villages and migrant day labourers dig out coal with sharp tools, which are carried in gunny sacks and deposited at particular spots.

The opposition party Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) has claimed that the north-eastern state is losing approximately Rs 2,000 crore in income every month due to rampant illegal rat-hole coal mining in numerous regions, particularly in the upper Assam Tinsukia district.

They have written a memorandum outlining the situation to the President, Prime Minister, Supreme Court Chief Justice, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Chairman of the NHRC, and Chairman of the National Green Tribunal.

Devojit Moran, an environmentalist stated, “Around 1000 rat-hole mining are functioning in the Ledo-Margherita region of the Patkai hills.

“The coal mafias are illegally extracting the coal through rat-hole mining.

Illegal rat-hole mining has been causing extensive damage to the entire biodiversity of the region.

Earlier, many bird species were found near the Saleki reserve forest are not found in that area due to deforestation and illegal mining,” he added.

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