Bhubaneswar: Irked by rampant illegal laterite stone mining near the Madanpur village in the Keonjhar district of Odisha, the villagers have now moved to the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) and have asked them to intervene into the matter.
In an application made to the SPCB and different concerned departments of the state government, the residents of Madanpur village under the Ghasipura Tehsil of the district informed the authorities about this issue. They alleged that illegal laterite stone quarrying in cashew forest lands of Madanpur are playing havoc with the local environment.
In a petition before the pollution board they said, “Around 100 acres of land in Madanpur villages are being illegally mined out and quarried by stone mafias since 2002. The villagers had been continuously representing before the tehsildar and other authorities to stop the illegal quarrying but in vain. Intermittently, the tehsildar used to raid the place and seize vehicles but all that is just eye-wash,”
The villagers also said that they had presented their case on January 15, 2018 to the authorities including District Collector and Tehsildar and also before the office of the Chief Minister of Odisha. In response to the grievance the Revenue and Disaster Management Department have forwarded the letter to District Collector Keonjhar on January 29, 2018 but no action has been taken so far.
The villagers claimed that such anti-environment actions taking place right under the nose of the authorities and getting away with it have affected the grazing areas of the cattle. The cattle often getting trapped in the quarrying areas as well.
The present illegal mining site is reported to be situated adjoining to Patilo Reserve Forest and has resulted in felling thousands of cashew trees. It is also alleged that the illegal mining have also adversely affected the agricultural land and obstructed the flow of water which is used to irrigate the agricultural land.