Meghalaya HC committee drafts new SOP for coal transport: Trucks to use colour coding, GPS tracking

Shillong, Aug 24: A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the transportation of coal brought from outside Meghalaya to be further transported to other states or countries has been drafted by Justice (retired) BP Katakey.

Speaking to The Assam Tribune, Justice BP Katakey said, “This SOP has been drafted because there are allegations that illegally extracted coal from Meghalaya is being shown as coal brought from outside the state.”

The draft of the SOP has been sent to the state government, and it will be notified soon, he added.

Justice Katakey is the one-man committee appointed by the High Court of Meghalaya to oversee the controversial coal transportation from Meghalaya.

There was a blanket ban on the extraction and transportation of coal from Meghalaya by an order of the National Green Tribunal in April 2014 due to environmental concerns.

However, the Meghalaya government challenged the order and got some relief from the court, allowing already-extracted coal, or “inventorised coal,” prior to the order to be auctioned and transported with strict regulation.

Notably, coal extracted from various parts of the country is still transported through Meghalaya to Assam, Mizoram and Manipur. Some of this coal is also exported to Bangladesh through the land ports.

Taking advantage of this, there are allegations that coal is illegally extracted in Meghalaya, defying the ban, and shown as coal "brought from outside the state" and transported to different states and also to Bangladesh.

Justice Katakey said to stop this illegal activity, the SOP was drafted in a meeting held a few days ago and sent to the state government. “The state government will notify the order in a few days,” he informed.

According to some of the salient features of the SOP, trucks would have colour coding on their windscreens to identify the kind of coal they were carrying. For example, coal from outside the state would have a yellow colour, others like inventorised coal, would have a red colour.

Moreover, trucks carrying the coal brought from outside the state must use a GPS or QR code so that details of the origin of the coal and truck can be identified.

Additionally, thorough checks of all relevant documents will be mandatory at entry points. Every check gate will give its stamp of approval (after checking different aspects of the SOP) and allow the trucks to move ahead. In case a truck is replaced within Meghalaya, the deputy commissioner will have to be informed.

During breakdown, drivers are required to report the incident to the nearest police station or call the emergency number 112.

Justice Katakey informed there is already a SOP for the inventorized coal in Meghalaya, which was notified a few years ago. "This is a new SOP only for coal brought into Meghlaya from outside sources," Justice Katakey informed.