Jajpur/Dharmasala/Chadheidhara: Acting on the direction of the district Collector, a team of revenue and mines officials visited the Dankari hill in Jajpur district Wednesday to assess the revenue loss for the state government from mining of minor minerals from the hill that may arise out of the establishment of a proposed oil depot by the Centre in the area.
The team visited the hill site under Dharmasala block and conducted a measurement of the area. The Centre has proposed to establish an underground oil depot over 773.60 acre of hilly land on plot no-600 and khata no-221 in the foothill where 15 black stone quarries are located.
The team comprising mines surveyor PK Sahani, Tata Steel surveyor Padman Biswal, Manas Ranjan Bej, Dharmasala tehsildar Seetal Agarwal and Dankari RI Janardan Sahu conducted the measurement of the area.
Later, the Tata Steel surveyor withdrew from measuring the area citing he lacked proper equipment to measure such a large area which will take at least three months to complete.
The district administration is allegedly trying to scuttle the oil depot project as the quarry owners share close links with some ruling party leaders.
The district administration has argued before the state government that it will face an annual revenue loss of Rs 1413,86,91,830 if the proposed oil depot comes up in the area surrounding the Dankari hill as the black stone quarries operating in the area would have to be closed down.
The district administration arguing in favour of the three sanctioned quarries and 13 quarries which have applied for permission claimed that their closure will lead to huge revenue loss for the state government. This apart, several illegal quarries are operating in the area in violation of norms.
The district administration’s support for the quarry owners has delivered a serious blow to the proposal for establishment of the oil depot in the area.
Observers alleged that the district administration was showing undue favour to the quarry owners in exchange of kickbacks. They are said to have close links with some ruling party leaders and the claim of revenue loss is nothing but an eyewash.
When contacted, the tehsildar said that the measurement of the area was undertaken to assess the loss for the state government if the quarries are closed down for establishment of the oil depot.
PNN
