Silchar, Aug. 19: The Assam government has authorised Cachar district deputy commissioner Sunanda Sengupta to issue photo identity cards to labourers from the district who work at the cottage coal mines along the hills at Bapung and Shella, under Jowai district lying on the boundary of Cachar and Meghalaya.

The decision was taken following allegations of harassment of labourers from Cachar and Karimganj by Meghalaya police at border checkgates at Ratacherra and Umkiang.

Official sources said Sengupta had asked the circle officer of Katigorah block under Cachar district, which is close to the Assam-Meghalaya border, to issue photo identity cards to labourer applicants on her behalf.

The restrictions imposed on the entry of labourers from the Cachar plains by the Meghalaya authorities was taken up by the Union minister for industries, Santosh Mohan Dev.

A Lok Sabha MP from Cachar, Dev discussed the issue with the Union home ministry and the state governments of Assam and Meghalaya.

The despatch of low-ash and high-calorie Khasi coal for home consumption in the brick kilns of south Assam and to Bangladesh almost came to a standstill in the wake of restrictions on the movement of mining labourers.

Hundreds of such migrant workers from Sonai, Nilambazar, Patherkandi and Katigorah are engaged in mines in the tertiary sediments in the Jowai district coal fields.

Every day, an average of a hundred trucks laden with coal make their way into Cachar from Meghalaya.

With the help of hired labourers, Meghalaya tribals drill holes in the tertiary sediment. A one-foot diameter hole drilled to a depth of a hundred feet leads the miners to the accumulation of coals. The total coal reserve in Meghalaya is estimated to be 500 million tonnes.