Guwahati: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Gaurav Gogoi has penned a strong letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding an independent inquiry into the alleged illegal quarrying operations in the Panimura Range of Karbi Anglong district.
Gogoi’s communication, dated Friday, highlighted what he described as a severe environmental and financial scandal, accusing quarry operators of brazenly flouting legal and environmental norms.
In his letter, the senior Congress leader claimed that the scale of illegal extraction has far outstripped official permits. While operators were originally sanctioned to extract three lakh cubic meters of stone over seven years starting in 2017, the actual extraction has reportedly ballooned to over 80 lakh cubic meters, a flagrant violation of the legal limits. The APCC president underscored the grave consequences of these operations, citing severe air and noise pollution, threats to local communities, and a monumental loss of revenue for the state exchequer.
Gogoi didn’t stop at just the Panimura issue. He linked the Karbi Anglong quarrying to a larger, organised syndicate that he alleges controls illegal mineral extraction across Assam. He pointed to his previous correspondence with the Prime Minister, including a January 2025 letter following the tragic deaths of nine workers in a Dima Hasao coal mine and a May 2025 follow-up after the Enforcement Directorate exposed a cross-state coal syndicate. Gogoi expressed deep concern that despite these revelations, there has been a lack of transparency and action, leading to public apprehension and raising serious questions of accountability.
The Congress leader’s letter also makes a bold claim of collusion. Gogoi alleged that the syndicate operates with the help of over-extraction, falsified records, and organised transport, all allegedly bolstered by political protection. He stated that this nexus between operators, political figures, and officials has severely eroded public trust. Gogoi concluded his plea by urging the central government to not only order a full-scale independent probe into the Panimura quarrying but also to review the status of previous inquiries and immediately suspend all unlawful activities. He called for accountability to extend beyond the operators to include the officials and political patrons who enable these illegalities.
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