GUWAHATI, Dec 16 — Illegal loading and unloading of coal, cement, bamboo, etc, at the Jogighopa railway station yard is causing a staggering loss of revenue worth nearly Rs 30 crore a year to the cash-starved State Government. But the most astonishing part of it is that this has been going on despite the Chief Minister’s written instruction to the administration to regularise the whole operations to prevent any further loss of revenue. The lobby of unauthorised contractors is so strong that even written orders from Excise Minister Rameswar Dhanowar (then Labour Minister) and endorsed by the Chief Minister, issued to the Bongaigaon district administration directing it to streamline the unauthorised operations have failed to evoke any positive response so far. According to a highly-placed source, an influential circle in the State Home Department with vested interests is working overtime to thwart any move to put an end to this illegal business.
The letter (No. LM 39/2001) dated June 6, 2002, from the Excise Minister states, “The district administration and the Police Department of Bongaigaon are not cooperating at all in any matters while collecting revenue from loading and unloading of coal, cement, bamboo, sales tax, etc.” This letter, endorsed by the Chief Minister, was forwarded to the Deputy Commissioner of Bongaigaon on June 13, 2002, directing him to take appropriate action. However, since nothing happened for nearly four months, the Excise Minister again sent a letter (No. EM/8/2002) dated October 10, 2002, to the Chief Secretary calling for necessary steps on this ‘most urgent’ matter. The situation, however, remains the same till date.
The loss of revenue is in the form of registration fees of contractors which is over Rs 10 lakh per annum, annual PF contribution for workers amounting to Rs 30 lakh, security deposit from different parties to the tune of Rs 25 lakh, and sales tax loss of about Rs 28 crore per year. Similar is the case in all the six or seven railway yards in the State and the accumulated revenue loss would be quite astronomical. Apart from revenue loss, the workers at the yard are also being subjected to gross exploitation at the hands of the contractors as they have been deprived of benefits like PF etc. Moreover, the illegal contractors with their money and muscle power are running their writ making the working environment polluted. To further their vested interest, they are also preventing the licensed contractors from entering the business.