Jajpur: Despite many efforts taken by the state government to contain rampant plunder of minor minerals, there has been no let-up in illegal quarrying and smuggling of black stone, murram and soil from Dharmasala tehsil area in Jajpur district. It has been over a year since the state government established the office of the deputy director of Minor Minerals department in Jajpur district as part of its move to curb the smuggling.
However, this has failed to stop the illegal mining and smuggling of minor minerals. Instead, the illegal practice, depriving the state’s exchequer of huge earnings, has only flourished over the years. The Jajpur district administration has directed for deposit of penalty and closure of the quarries after mining of black stones beyond the permissible limit was proved at Aruha black stone mines under the Dharmasala tehsil. However, some unscrupulous miners continue to extract and smuggle murram from the area. The murram is being used for the establishment of a crusher unit named ‘Mass’, located about 300 metres from Tarakasuni Primary School in Aruha panchayat. Similarly, the Jajpur Road-Cuttack rail route lies at a distance of 200 metres from the under-construction crusher unit. Reports said that there are five black stone mines on Aruha hill and the state government has prepared a cluster mining plan for the area.
However, it has comfortably ignored the presence of a school and the rail route near it before preparing the cluster mining plan. This has left the local residents surprised as they questioned the wisdom of the district administration in permitting the establishment of a crusher unit which is likely to cause deafening noise and will lead to air pollution in the area. Apprehending severe sound and air pollution, over 100 students and their guardians have sought the intervention of the district Collector, demanding to save them from the problem which is likely to impact their health and studies. Peeved over the development, locals have written to the district Collector demanding closure of the illegal black stone quarry and crusher unit and necessary action for violation of norms. They have also forwarded copies of their complaints to the deputy director of Minor Minerals department, the secretary of Steel and Mines department and the regional officer of State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) at Kalinganagar in the district. According to the complaints, the district administration is yet to collect the penalty that was levied on the concerned leaseholders following satellite mapping held earlier. However, surprisingly, the district administration has registered a certified case against one of the three leaseholders while the names of two of them have been excluded by allegedly showing them undue favour. It has been alleged that this is in direct contravention of the norms for environmental clearance.
According to the complaints, two of the quarries BSQ-2 quarry no-1/16-17 and 34/21-22 are situated at a distance of about 300 metres from the primary school. Moreover, three of the quarries BSQ no-1 quarry no-35/21-22 and quarry no-36/21-22 lie at a distance of about 200 metre from the railway line. The presence of the quarry might endanger the railway line anytime as residents expressed concerned over its security. This apart, four stone crushing units are in operation near these quarries on plot number2733, 2594, 2704 and 2705 for which the students have been seriously affected by the deafening sound and air pollution emanating from the units. Residents Nirmal Nayak, Harihar Sahu, Pratap Rana, Anand Behera, Pramod Behera, Anam Behera, Sahadev Rana, Mohan Nayak, Chittarnjan Jena and over 100 others have demanded a proper probe into these irregularities and sought stringent action against the wrongdoers.