Joda: Notwithstanding routine raids by the mines and forest departments and police officials on iron ore smuggling, such activities have not been curbed yet in Keonjhar.
Amid repeated seizures of illegal iron ores in the recent past, the forest department busted another major iron ore smuggling racket near Anseikala under Barbil range in Keonjhar district late Thursday night. The racket has been supplying minerals to parts of Jharkhand, a report said.
Acting on a tip-off, the forest officials of Joda, Barbil, Bileipada and Champua ranges conducted raids in the area at 1.30 am and seized five dumpers carrying iron ores. However, the drivers and helpers of the vehicles fled the scene after seeing the forest officials.
Joda forester Annirudha Panda and Bileipada forester Pradip Behera said the seized dumpers were laden with illegally mined iron ores worth lakhs of rupees.
The iron ore was being smuggled to Jharkhand. In the last few days, the forest department has carried out multiple raids at various places and seized minerals and assets worth millions of rupees.
Joda forester Annirudha Panda said the seized dumpers belong to people in Joda area. Their owners have been informed of the seizure.
The forest department and the RTO will issue letters to them after availing details of the seized vehicles. It may be noted that the state government is implementing Integrated Mining Mineral Management System (i3Ms) to check illegal mining and illegal mineral transportation.
Besides, a squad of Joda joint director of mines office and a state level enforcement squad have been working to curb illegal mining, but all this has failed to check it, it was alleged.
When contacted, Salil Kumar Behera, the joint director of Joda mining circle, said the mines department is carrying out raids at different places. However, he admitted that illegal mineral transportation was being carried out with the help of forged transit passes.
More cases of mineral smuggling have been detected in 2019-20. A few weeks ago, the officials of the mines department seized 30 tonne of illegally extracted iron ore at Antaramantara Chak under Bamebari police limits.
PNN