Jajpur: Leaseholders, who have been issued penalty notice for illegal extraction of black stones exceeding the permissible limit from the quarries under Dharmasala tehsil in Jajpur district, continue to hold sway as they or their kin still have the lease of several quarries. Locals have blamed the district administration for such a situation as it went silent after issuing the penalty notices and failed to act against the errant lessees. This has emboldened the tainted leaseholders to loot black stone from the quarries with impunity. The matter came to light in a reply by state Steel and Mines Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena to a question raised by Dharmasala MLA Himanshu Sekhar Sahu during the recently concluded session in the Assembly. The penalty notices worth Rs 313.40 crore were issued to 19 leaseholders after they were found to have extracted stones more than the permissible limits during a drone mapping of the quarries in Dharmasala tehsil area. The leaseholders have moved the Orissa High Court after receiving the notices.
Questions are being raised as to how the district administration could further grant permission for mining to some of the accused leaseholders or their family members and why their environmental clearances (EC) were not withdrawn. It is alleged that the concerned tehsildar is hand in gloves with the leaseholders in the irregularities as this could never have taken place without the tacit support of the latter. Residents have demanded a high-level probe and stringent action against the concerned tehsildar for promoting rampant loot of black stones from the quarries at the cost of the environment. They alleged that the district administration, instead of withdrawing the environmental clearances (EC) for violation of minor mineral concession rules, has only issued show-cause and penalty notices to the accused leaseholders.
Reports said that leaseholder Prahallad Lenka was slapped Rs 15.40 crore and Rs 4.68 crore penalties after the drone mapping brought to the fore excessive extraction of black stones from Rahadpur and Barada hills. However, Lenka continues to be the leaseholder of a 10-acre quarry on Rahadpur black stone hill.
Similarly, another leaseholder Jyotsna Jena was issued a penalty notice of Rs 79.46 crore but still owns the lease of one-fourth lease area on Dankari hill. Moreover, leaseholder Rangadhar Pradhan was issued a penalty notice of Rs 16.68 crore but he continues mining black stone from Quarry No-17 in Anjira hill. This apart, leaseholder Jyotsna Jena’s husband, Prasant Jena, continues to mine black stones from Quarry No-17 on Dankari hill.
Moreover, the 19 defaulting lessees have grabbed the lease of other black stone quarries in the name of their kin. Meanwhile, the leaseholders continue to extract black stones over the permissible limits due to the silence and tacit support of the administration. Peeved over the development, residents of Dharmasala had earlier approached the State Environment Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAA). The member secretary of SEIAA had directed the Jajpur Collector to conduct a necessary probe and take suitable action in this regard, August 31, 2023.
However, the District Collector is yet to take any action in this regard. This has emboldened the defaulting leaseholders to continue to plunder black stones quarries with impunity. Residents expressed hope that the newly elected MLA Himanshu Sekhar Sahu will certainly take steps in this regard. When contacted, Deputy Director Jay Prakash Nayak of the Minor Minerals department said his department is aware of the collection of the outstanding penalty and is taking action against the defaulters. The mining leases have been given earlier and the Revenue department should take action against the defaulting leaseholders engaged in excessive black stone mining.