Malkangiri: Mafia from the neighbouring Telangana had long been plundering valuable white quartz stones in Kunapalli village of Malkangiri district. Though late, the district administration has woken up from its slumber and has taken steps to curb illegal mining of the valuable stones.
Officials have put a red flag in the mining area Saturday, declaring it a prohibited place. According to reports, the mafia transported huge blocks of quartz stones from a murram mound near the Kunapalli village. They had dumped the stones at another place.
According to villagers, the mafia gave them an impression that they have got lease for stone extraction. Surprisingly, the administration had no idea about the illegal stone mining. Before extracting stones, the mafia has laid a murram road to the mines.
Motu tehsildar came to know about the matter. He sent the MV79 RI to the area and set up a red flag at the place. Officials have made local people aware of the illegal mining. Illegal mining of minerals has always remained a major concern in several parts of the state.
Malkangiri district surrounded by mountains and hilly terrains is rich in natural resources. Surprisingly, such illegal transportation and smuggling of the precious white quartz stones are being carried out right under the nose of the local administration which seems to have turned a blind eye to such activities.
It is alleged that the mafia from the neighbouring state misleads the local tribals and engaged them in excavation work. They have also constructed a temporary road to the quarry. Locals said some people come and take away white stones in tractors. They have also constructed a road. They did not have information about what these stones are.
They paid money to locals and organised a community feast. They claimed to have got the tender for the work. Sub Collector Birasen Pradhan had earlier said that the mines department had been intimated about the need for a survey in the area having huge reserves of white quartz.
“As we do not have any experts, we will again send a reminder” he said. He had assured that the tehsildar would conduct a detailed inquiry into it and the mining in the region would be halted at the earliest.
PNN
