Jajpur: Illegal mining of various minerals are growing rampant by the day in this district as the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections approach. It has been alleged that illegal mining is being carried out to fund the campaigns of candidates belonging to various political parties including the ruling one. This district has rich deposits of minor minerals like black stones, murrams, sand and laterite stones. More than a year back, the Odisha government had transferred the management of minor minerals from the Revenue to the Mining department. Many alleged that since then illegal mining of these minerals have grown manifold. The Mining department has leased out 35 of the 90 black stone quarries on lease. However, black stone is being extracted rampantly from the remaining 55 quarries. Also murram, sand and laterite stone quarries are being plundered on a regular basis.
According to sources, all this is allegedly happening in connivance with officials of the Revenue and Mining departments and police. Sources said that the Dharmasala tehsil area is known as the storehouse of black stone. They alleged that more than 10,000 tonne of black stone are being smuggled from Aruha hill under this tehsil on a daily basis. The miscreants are using sophisticated and high-powered equipment to extract black stone. Four concretebreaker machines and over 40 Hyva trucks are being used for the mining and smuggling of stones. Sources added that a similar modus operandi is being followed at the Dankari, Rahadpur, Lunibar, Bichhakhandi and Anjira hills in the district. Experts observed that black stones worth Rs 500 crore have been smuggled from these areas in the last 12 months. Satellite mapping of the areas will reveal the true picture, they said.
Sources pointed out that illegal mining and smuggling of murram are also taking place daily. A case in point is the 15 acres of government land provided to industrial firm ‘VCI Chemical Industries Private Ltd’ a few years back. However, the firm never set up its unit. Currently, miscreants are smuggling murram from large areas of the land and smuggling it, sources added. They further said that murram worth `50 lakh has been smuggled and a major amount of the money is being used to fund the election expenses of some candidates. On being tipped off, officials of the Mining department inspected the land in question recently.
However, the reason they gave for not taking any action is deplorable. They said that since the extraction and smuggling of murram happen during the night, they can’t take any action. Similarly, it has been alleged that on average 50 trucks of laterite stones are being smuggled from the district daily. The stone-laden trucks pass by the Bairi police station but the cops have so far not taken any action, sources said. When contacted, Deputy Director Mines (DDM), Jayaprakash Nayak said that illegal quarries are being raided regularly and fines are being collected. He, however, could not throw any light as to when such activities will stop.