Jajpur: Smuggling of black stones from the non-leased mines under the Dharmasala block in Jajpur district are being rampantly done with the miners extracting stones more than the permissible limits, sources said Tuesday. It is also helping the local crusher units as they can hoard black stones more than the allotted quantity. Sources said that there are 90 black stone mines in Dharmasala tehsil.
Out of these, 25 have been leased out. Smuggling and illegal extraction of stones from the other 65 quarries are rampant, the sources added. They pointed out that tehsil and Minor Minerals department officials are aware of the loot, but remain silent due to obvious reasons. They alleged that the officials are associated with the smugglers. Dharmasala tehsildar Subhankar Mohanty recently in a letter, (No-6791, dated, December 16, 2023) has directed the president of the Crusher Owners’ Association to abide by the rules.
Locals however, termed the letter a ‘eyewash’ and said smuggling of black stones will continue at the Aruha, Dankari, Rahadpur, Lunibar, Baraman, Barada, Bajabati and Bichhakhandi hills. Some of the leaseholders of quarries have been fined Rs 320 crore in various phases for smuggling following satellite mapping of the mines.
However, now the leaseholders are extracting stones from non-leased mines to escape penalty. Sources said that many of them are transporting huge quantities of black stones without proper transit passes. The maximum amount of smuggling is taking place at the Aruha and Dankari hills, the sources alleged. The tehsildar has sent a guideline to the units after some leaseholders lodged complaints with the director, Mines department and the district collector. The guideline warrants merging the contract of the black stone quarry with that of the crusher units, updated and valid no objection certificates (NOC), and consent to establishment (CTE). Only then mining of the quarries are allowed.
However, in most cases rules are flouted with impunity due to the presence of influential persons, sources said. Similarly, hoarding of raw materials or finished goods beyond the permitted quantity must not be done in a unit at any given time, the rules state. A transparent updated register of the details of goods must be maintained at all times for surprise checks. This also is not done regularly. Rules also state that transport vehicles must be permitted with optimum loadings.
Overloading of the vehicles at the supply points will attract heavy penalties in addition to action as per law. It has been said that CCTV cameras must be installed at the crusher units, but most of the units do not have a single one. Sources said that due to the flouting of the rules, the state government is losing several crores annually in revenue.
An official on condition of anonymity said that the tehsildar has sought the cooperation of owners of crusher units. However, it has had no effect.