Shillong, Oct 03: The Association of Meghalaya Traders and Transporters (TAMTT) today met the chief Minister Mr Conrad K Sangma and submitted the memorandum to him alleging that there is an illegal transportation of Coal and limestone to industrial areas in East Jiantia Hills District.
In the memorandum the organization said that. It is very painful to remain mere spectators if we fail to bring the matter to light and also to your notice. Sir, you might not be aware of the fact that there are several Cement Factories in East Jaintia Hills which are relying solely upon the raw materials mined and collected from various parts of the district.
Absence of Revenue Checkpoints or Check gates en-route the Cement Factories to check mineral laden trucks supplying raw materials to the factories have given huge undue benefits to those factories. Coal and lime stones supplied by local suppliers to Cement factories are not taxed nor are any accounts kept by any government authorities.
On top of that, there is no concession on the cost of Cement sold within the State of Meghalaya, infact, Cement produced in Jaintia Hills are sold at a cheaper rate in Assam than what is sold in Khliehriat.
Meghalaya is an economically backward state and is neither self sufficient in any respect. Failure on the part of the government to tap the revenue leakage will only lead to deteriorating living conditions of our people and further lack of proper infrastructure including basic Healthcare and Educational System.
Proper tapping of revenue from natural resources for the benefit of local residents will fetch your goodself great prayers and blessings from the unreachables as they will be provided with access to good roads, hospitals, schools etc from the wealth which our Mother Earth has blessed us. Service to the Poor is Service to God and it is nothing short of the greatest achievement one can have in life.
The Industrialists seldom visit East Jaintia Hills but are interested only on its natural wealth. The day our State becomes the “Have Not” in terms of Minerals and other natural resources which can grab the interest of Industrialists, you can mark our words, they won’t even know where Shillong is, leave aside East Jaintia Hills District.
A win-win policy is what is needed, and the State Government should not extend so much favoritism to Cement Industries in East Jaintia Hills. Royalty should be collected from minerals supplied to these factories and Revenue Check post should be set up enroute to the Factories for those trucks supplying raw material to the factories.
As it is, the State has already provided various subsidies to these factories. It’s high time for the State to think about the general people and bring development by putting the State first and Industrialists next. This will improve the standard of living of the people of our State.
An approximate estimate of 800 Limestone laden trucks and 130 Coal laden trucks are entering Cement Industries daily. All these trucks are highly overloaded with almost three times the permissible weights.
If one has to calculate 25MT of Coal per truck per day, it will come to round about One Million One Hundred Eighty Six Thousand Two Hundred and Fifty Metric Tonnes of Coal yearly. This means that State Government and Central Government are losing that much Taxes and Royalty yearly from Coal supplied to Cement Factories only in East Jaintia Hills District.
Again if one has to calculate 30MT of Limestone per truck per day at 365 days a year it comes out to Eight Million Seven Hundred Sixty Thousand Metric Tonnes annually. Similarly this would mean that State Government and Central Government are losing that much Taxes and Royalty yearly from Limestone supplied to Cement Factories only in East Jaintia Hills District.
The TAMTT said that from such leaked income if properly tapped, the state will be able to construct at least100Kms of good roads every year in East Jaintia Hills District. The government is turning blind eyes to both revenue leakage from minerals supplied to Cement Industries and also in bringing down the fuel cost in the state.
Tapping of revenue leakage from minerals supplied to Cement Industries will enable the government to cut tax rates of fuels like petrol and diesels etc .The Government should also come up with a policy to protect local transporters.While giving various subsidies to the Cement and other Factories, proper Agreement should be made so that preference is given to local transporters to transport the products from various Industries located across the state.
As of now, transporters from Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and other states are preferred by the Cement Factories in Jaintia Hills and local transporters are sidelined mostly. Moreover, there is absolutely too little employment opportunity for local people in all the Cement Factories. Said Mr Enrico D Pasi president and Dalangki Suiam Genenral Secretary in the press statement issued today.
