Jajpur: Even as the National Green Tribunal has slapped a Rs 25 crore penalty on the state government for illegal extraction of black stones from Dankari hill under Dharmasala tehsil in Jajpur district, an influential group in the power corridor is allegedly trying to get a reprieve and bail out the stone mafia and the officials involved in the irregularities.
Notably, black stones worth several crores of rupees have been extracted from the Dankari hill without necessary environmental clearance from 2002-2018. The National Green Tribunal holding the state government responsible has slapped penalty of Rs 25 crore.
The move came to the fore after the additional district magistrate of Jajpur and the Dharmasala tehsildar were found camping in Delhi from February and carrying out consultations with lawyers to get reprieve from the penalty. Chatters were abuzz after the two officials were learnt to be camping in Delhi and making legal consultations over the issue.
Sources said, a division bench comprising Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel, SP Wangdi, Ramakrishnan and Nagin Nanda heard the petition-606/2018 and passed the order January 4, 2019. The NGT order has held the state government officials responsible for encouraging illegal mining in the hill as black stone worth crore have been extracted from the mines without any environmental clearance during 2002-2017.
The state cannot avoid its responsibility for the damage caused to the environment. We hold the State to be liable to deposit an interim compensation of Rs 25 crore which may be deposited with the CPCB in one month,” the NGT said in its order.
The special tribunal further mentioned that the State can recover the amount from erring officials and illegal miners and stone crushers within a period of one month. The penalty recovered could be spent on the persons who have been affected of diseases due to pollution arising out of illegal mining, the order said.
A joint team comprising representatives of CPCB, Dhanbad School of Mines, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun and the chairperson of State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) will decide on where to spend the fine recovered.
“The NGT has felt that there was loot of natural resources by a nexus of mining mafia, politicians and officials. In its interim direction, the NGT has asked the State government to pay Rs 25 crore to the CPCB,” said Sarbeswar Behura, the petitioner. He however, doubted whether the state government will implement the order.
Notably, out of the 16 quarries in Dankari mines owners of 2, 3,4,5,6 and 11 quarries continued with illegal mining without taking the approval of state pollution control board.
However, since then one and half month has passed but the state government is yet act on the errant miners or the offcials involved in the irregularities. It is alleged that 10 revenue inspectors of Dankari revenue circle, 10 tehsildar of Dharmasala tehsil and six sub-collectors of Jajpur are allegedly involved in the irregularities.
The then collector and the principal secretary of revenue and disaster management department were issued show-cause notification under Section-15 of Odisha Civil Service rule against these errant officials August 8, 2016. However, three years have passed but no action has been taken against these officials. Six miners are said to be involved in this mega irregularities.
When contacted, Mihir Prasad Mohanty, ADM refused to comment on the matter as he is in New Delhi on a case work in Supreme Court. He however, said to contact the collector. However, attempts to contact the collector over phone went unanswered.
PNN