The leader of Opposition in Assam Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, has written to chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal about the ongoing alleged illegal coal and other natural resource syndicates in the state stating that the government has not taking any tangible actions on the issue.
Saikia wrote, “I do not want to waste any ink or paper by citing reference to numerous letters, discussions and also assurances given by your government even in the sacred floor of the Assam Legislative Assembly in the recent winter session to the effect that your government is hell-bent serious about stopping illegal destruction of the environment, various illegal syndicates involving coal, stone and other natural resources and that your government will take action within two hours of receiving report about occurrence of such illegal activity.” (sic)
He added that he wrote the letter just to inform the chief minister that he has proved to be an “untruthful person” and alleged that the his government has also turned out to be a government which only levels “false accusations and makes false assurances”.
“I state so because no tangible action has been taken till now to stop destruction of natural resources and running of illegal trade in these perishable commodities, which is also depriving the state exchequer of due revenue.”
The Congress leader said many discussions were undertaken in the past and he had written many letters to the persons concerned regarding the syndicates.
“On December 10, I had requested all concerned to take action to stop such illegal activity. The DC, Sivasagar was apprised of the situation on more than one occasion, but no action was taken. On the contrary, these valuable resources are being illegally traded for personal gain in collusion with government officials,” he said.
He added that even on Wednesday, some locals gathered on the banks of the Dikhow to stop such illegal activity.
He further questioned, “How much can they achieve in the absence of cooperation from the government?”
Earlier, several members of the Congress, including Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi and Youth Congress president Kamrul Islam Choudhury have alleged that people linked with the current ruling government are involved in the ongoing coal syndicate in Upper Assam.
