ITANAGAR, 18 Feb: The Arunachal Democratic Party (ADP) has urged the state government to immediately stop illegally-run factories in the state and constitute an independent inquiry committee, “under not less than retired judges of high court,” to unearth the truth.
Alleging irregularities and corruption in running several factories in the state, the ADP in a press statement on Monday said: “M/s Platinum Alloys Pvt Ltd in Tippi in West Kameng, M/s SMS Smelter Ltd & M/s Shree Salasar Industries in Lekhi, M/s Satyam Ispat (North East) Limited, M/s Satyaratan Ispat, M/s Sunshine Industries, M/s Satyam Steel and Alloys, etc, in Banderdewa Industrial Estate are run by Ratan Sharma, Niraj Sharma, and families and their associates within the state by making Arunachal Pradesh their safe haven for accumulation of black money by evading various forms of taxes for the last many years by taking advantage of lack of effective law enforcement authority in the state.”
“As per Chapter 5 Section 5 (4) (xvi) (b) of the State Industrial and Investment Policy 2020 (Amended), the units shall have employment of minimum of 20% people of Arunachal Pradesh in the managerial cadre and minimum 30% of people of Arunachal Pradesh in the non-managerial cadre. But not a single person is employed in the managerial cadre,” the ADP claimed, adding that “this is a clear-cut violation of the Arunachal Pradesh Industrial and Investment Policy, 2020.”
Alleging discrepancy and corruption practiced in the running of the factories, the ADP said: “We have found that most of the factories have been running illegally for many years without applying for registration.”
“The main purpose of running factories without registration as per the Factories Act is to make black money in the name of such factories. They have been skipping taxes to the state government and exploiting the state’s resources regularly in a fraudulent manner,” the ADP alleged.
It further said that “it is a crime for an industrial plant to set up or operate without the proper permissions from the State Pollution Control Board or exceed the allowed emission limits.”
“As far as several LAMC, coke, and coal units are concerned,” the ADP said “there is no question of issuance of licence, since in 2012 the Supreme Court of India suspended coal mining in the Namchik-Namphuk coal mine in Arunachal, and declared the coal mining activities illegal. Despite the Supreme Court ruling, illegal coal mining is being rampantly carried out in various coal deposit areas of Changlang district,” the party said.
Claiming that there are several complaints by the public of the respective areas against the factories for spreading excessive pollution, the ADP said that no action has been initiated by the government till date.
The ADP further said that the party has submitted complaints and representations to the state government to conduct an inquiry into these business establishments but no action has been initiated till date.
