Guwahati: Gaurav Gogoi, the newly appointed President of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP government, alleging that the Northeast has become a hotbed of illegal coal mining and narcotics trade “under the umbrella of the BJP.”
Gogoi’s strong remarks came as a direct rebuttal to Prime Minister Modi’s address at the “Rising Northeast Summit,” where the Prime Minister reportedly spoke of industry and investment in the region.
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“Prime Minister Modi Ji addressed the Rising Northeast Summit in Delhi regarding North East, in which various things were mentioned, industry was mentioned, investment was described, but all this is beyond the ground realities,” Gogoi stated, setting the tone for his press conference.
“The ground realities are very worrying, especially in North East. Today, two big diseases have gripped North East: the first is illegal coal, and the second is narcotics.”
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Gogoi then proceeded to lay out a detailed account of alleged illegal coal operations, citing an Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid in April of this year as primary evidence.
He highlighted that on April 24, the ED conducted raids at multiple locations in Meghalaya and Guwahati, including Nongalbibra, Jogijhopa, and Margherita in Tinsukia.
Following these raids, on April 25th, the ED issued a press release that, according to Gogoi, explicitly detailed an “illegal coal syndicate nexus operating in Meghalaya and Assam.”
Quoting directly from the ED’s press release, Gogoi emphasized, “ED investigation further revealed that a syndicate having person from Meghalaya and Assam is in charge of ensuring that the trucks containing illegal coal clear the borders of Meghalaya and enter into Assam without any checking restrictions where papers were prepared to show this as legally mined coal.”
He further elaborated on the syndicate’s alleged modus operandi, stating that they “used to charge Rs 1.27 lakh to Rs 1.25 million per truck from the mine owners in the name of commission patronage in cash. The illegal mine coal was stored at depots located at Jogighat in Assam.”
Gogoi also pointed to the ED’s revelation that the cash generated was collected and stored by “cash handlers,” whose diaries detailing “cash in out” were seized.
He further alleged that “the coal mine owners and the syndicate people used to coordinate with illegal coal mine operators at Margherita in Tinsukia to make it appear to be mined from a legally source miners.” During the May search, the ED reportedly seized Rs 1.58 crore in cash, digital devices, and two high-end vehicles suspected to be purchased from the proceeds of crime.
“We were the first to welcome it,” Gogoi declared, referring to the ED’s action. “Because the Congress party has been raising these very points time and again, that illegal coal trade is going on. We raised this inside the house as well. We raised this issue outside the House and were pleasantly surprised that the ED did such a thing.”
Gogoi then directly challenged the assertions of the Assam Chief Minister. “We welcomed it because it proved the Assam Chief Minister’s statements to be false. The Assam Chief Minister says that there is no illegal coal trade. Everything is legal. So, the government machinery proved the Chief Minister to be a liar. So we welcomed this.”
However, Gogoi expressed growing skepticism regarding the ED’s follow-up actions. “But when there was no investigation after this, there was no SIT after this, there was no arrest after this, then our doubt also went towards the ED whether the ED really wanted to arrest people or when they said that during the search cash of Rs 1.58 crore was seized, their work was limited to that.”