By Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi on Sunday alleged that Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal has been involved in the coal-syndicate running in the Margherita Assembly constituency. The Congress leader also alleged involvement of administration, forest department and the Assam government officials and media persons in the syndicate. The statement was made during a felicitation programme of Digboi Congress where the MP said that CM Sonowal is also involved in the coal-syndicate running in the State.

Bordoloi said, “The incident in Margherita is very unfortunate. Many government officials, journalists are involved in the syndicate. They are surfacing the entire rat-hole mining which has led to the death of many mine workers. It is running under the surveillance of CM Sarbananda Sonowal.” said Bordoloi. He said that the coal-syndicate has been going on in Jagun, Namfai, Ledo and other parts of the easternmost region of the State.It may be mentioned that A State level monitoring committee has been formed to prevent syndicates and all SPs directed to report daily seizures and arrests to it, Transport minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said today. The committee, formed about one and half month back, is headed by Commissioner & Secretary (Home) Ashutosh Agnihotri. The SPs have to submit the daily reports in a set format. Rubbishing allegations of Nagaon Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi that a coal syndicate was thriving in the State under the direct patronage of the Chief Minister’s Office, Patowary said the “baseless charges” were an attempt to malign the clean image of the Chief Minister. “In the last one month, 450 cattle heads were seized and 55 smugglers arrested.

A notorious kingpin of cattle mafia Sarfaraj was yesterday arrested by Assam Police from Gopalganj in Bihar and is being brought here. Also, during the year, some 300 coal trucks were seized and around 100 people involved in illegal coal trade arrested,” said Patowary, who was flanked by the CM’s two advisors Hrishikesh Goswami and Santanu Bharali at a press conference. Patowary also said while the CID is already investigating the syndicates in the State, the CM had last year written a letter to CBI to launch a probe into all allegations of syndicate. Claiming that around 150 illegal check gates were closed down after the BJP-led government came to power, Patowary questioned how they were operating during the Congress regime. “Pradyut Bordoloi has held many portfolios in the Congress government, including Home, Forest and Industry. What did he do regarding the syndicates that were operating during the then government? Our government detected 7 lakh ghost children in the social welfare beneficiary list, 4.5 lakh fake job cards were cancelled and 3.5 lakh bogus ration cards scrapped. This was the state of affairs during the Congress regime. Bordoloi owes an explanation,” Patowary said. “He (Bordoloi) did not see all these syndicates when he was a minister. It is because he indulged in these that the people of Margherita rejected him in the assembly elections,” the minister added.