The Assam government on Saturday ordered a judicial probe into allegations of illegal coal mining in Upper Assam’s Dehing Patkai rainforest region — in the eye of a controversy for the last few months.
A release from the Chief Minister’s Office on Saturday said that a one-man inquiry panel comprising retired Gauhati High Court Judge Brajendra Prasad Katakey would “investigate the allegations against coal mining in the sanctuary since 2003”. The panel is required to submit its report within six months.
In April, a conditional clearance by the National Board of Wildlife’s (NBWL) to a coal mining project by Coal India Limited (CIL) in the Saleki Proposed Reserve Forest (PRF) of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve had sparked protests in the state.
