Doomdooma, July 26 -- Former ULFA leader Jiten Dutta has warned that Margherita, Digboi and Ledo in Assam's Tinsukia district could face flood devastation similar to that witnessed in Sivasagar, Charaideo and Jorhat if illegal open-cast coal mining in the region continues unchecked.

Addressing the executive meeting of the All Assam Ex-ULFA Coordinators' Association at Joymoti Auditorium in Khowang Chariali, Dibrugarh, on Sunday, Dutta alleged that extensive hill cutting for coal extraction had weakened the region's ecology and increased the risk of floods.

"The destruction of hills in the name of coal extraction has made such disasters inevitable. A handful of people have become rich by cutting down the hills, but thousands of ordinary ...