Shillong, Dec 14: The Deputy Commissioner, East Jaintia Hills District, Shri Shivansh Awasthi, IAS, in a video statement issued has informed that in compliance with the directions of the High Court of Meghalaya, a joint team has been constituted to undertake the demolition of unauthorised coke plants operating within the district.
The joint team under the supervision of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Shri Manish Kumar, IAS and comprising officials from the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) and the Police Department, was directed to carry out the demolition drive of all unauthorised coke plants in the district.
Also, the Deputy Commissioner stated that a total of 16 coke plants were identified in East Jaintia Hills District as having been set up without obtaining the necessary authorisations as per the norms and criteria as laid down by the government notification. Out of these 16 unauthorised coke plants, 5 had been demolished earlier.
For the remaining 11 coke plants, notices were issued to them in the month of October 2025, directing the owners to submit compliance whether they have obtained the necessary permissions for regularisation. However, no response was received from the concerned coke plants.
Accordingly, and in pursuance to the directions of the Hon’ble High Court of Meghalaya, instructions were issued to the joint teams to proceed with the demolition of the remaining 11 unauthorised coke plants. The demolition drive commenced from Saturday 13th December, 2025.
As of the date of reporting, the joint teams have successfully carried out the demolition of 7 out of the 11 unauthorised coke plants and for the remaining 4 coke plants the team was observed that they have already been demolished by the respective owners. In total, all 11 coke plants that were unauthorised are now not in operation, added the Deputy Commissioner.
