Four vehicles laden with minor minerals seized by Special Task Force at Lekhapani, Tinsukia

Our Correspondent

DIGBOI: Four vehicles loaded with minor minerals were seized by the Special Task Force during its routine patrolling on Wednesday at Lekhapani area under Digboi Forest Division in Tinsukia district.

According to a forest official, four vehicles bearing registration numbers AS06 BC-5978, AR16 6639, AS01DD 2143 and AS01AC 2749 loaded with illegally procured boulder-stones without any valid documents were intercepted and prosecuted as per provisions late on Wednesday evening along the NH-38 and thorough investigation was carried out on all possible fronts to ascertain the nature of offense committed. According to a member of the Task Force, two vehicles were allowed the same night after realizing the values against the offense, besides the royalty and GST compliance, while the proceedings for the remaining two vehicles were being carried out at the DFO Office Digboi till the filing of this news.

Meanwhile, Juggal Prasad, one of the drivers of the vehicles, admitted the offense in writing to the Lekhapani Forest Range Officer and said that the minor minerals were being transported from the nearby Kharsang area in Arunachal Pradesh without any admissible documents, thus infringing the provisions governing the act of the transportation of the minor minerals.

The Special Task Force, comprising the Rangers of Lekhapani, Margherita East and West ranges, OC Lekhapani Police Station and other forest personnel, has been constantly patrolling the highways and other vulnerable pockets to register, check, note and act on all the commercial vehicles plying in the area which are involved in various illegal activities.

The NH-38 stretching from Jagun bordering Arunachal Pradesh comes across five potential and resourceful forest ranges, including Jagun, Lekhapani, Margherita East and West, Digboi and a part of Doomdoma Forest Division near Makum with three police stations at Lakhapani, Margherita and Digboi along with two outposts - Jagun and Ledu. Manpower crunch has always been a vital issue here in both the departments of Police and Forest.

The Special Task Force was formed by the district administration a month earlier after Congress Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi alleged various illegalities, including coal syndicate in Margherita subdivision. The force comprises of DFO Digboi as the chairman and OC Digboi as the vice-chairman while all the rangers and other OCs and ICs are the members. Officials from transport and tax departments are also the constituents of the force which is expected to check all the vehicles, their consignments and act upon the defaulters immediately.

However, despite the force conducting regular patrolling along the highways and setting naka check posts, smugglers and illegal traders reportedly continue to transport already excavated deposits of minor minerals and coal to nearby coke plants, and sawn timber from the nearby Miao, Namphai, Kharsang and Jairampur.

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