TURA, March 14: Hundreds of villagers from Chokpot region in South Garo Hills rallied against ongoing extraction of boulders and stones from the environmentally sensitive Dareng river.

The river provides water for drinking, agriculture to over 40 villages and flows down to Bangladesh. It is also one of the main rivers that is home to hundreds of species of fish which feed the local population. The extraction of boulders, stones and sand began in 2021 from the Budugre aking land through which the river flows. But opposition to it by the local population ended the extraction.

However, the same operation to take away the previous resources has once again begun from February of this year leading to much anger among the people who have formed the Chokpot Area Vigilance Committee and have decided to stop this illegal operation once and for all.

The public had been opposing the extraction for a long time and had also written to district authorities demanding a stop, but seeing no positive steps from authorities, decided to stage protests across the region.