11 illegal coke plants demolished in Meghalaya

Eleven illegal coke oven plants were demolished through a controlled explosion in East Jaintia Hills district following orders from the Meghalaya High Court, officials said on Sunday.
The demolition drive commenced from December 13 and as of date all the illegal plants have been demolished, Deputy Commissioner, East Jaintia Hills District, Shivansh Awasthi said. “… in compliance with the directions of the Meghalaya High Court, a joint team has been constituted to undertake the demolition of unauthorised coke plants operating within the district,” Awasthi said.
The joint team was constituted under the supervision of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Manish Kumar and officials from the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board and the Police department to carry out the demolition drive.
“The joint teams have successfully carried out the demolition seven out of the 11 unauthorised coke plants and for the remaining four coke plants the team was observed that they have already been demolished by the respective owners,” the Deputy Commissioner said.
Awasthi said 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, Awasthi said five had been demolished earlier. The others were issued notices directing the owners to submit compliance reports. However, no response was received from the concerned coke plants, so the demolishing was carried out, the official said.