Barbil: Amid allegations of non-stop illegal mining, police got a major breakthrough Monday night and busted a racket involved in illegal extraction and transportation of manganese in Sidhhamatha reserve forest in Keonjhar.
Police seized two trucks laden with 15 tonnes of illegal manganese, an SUV, and a bike. Besides, eight people belonging to Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar were arrested.
Eight cell phones and Rs 1lakh were seized from them.
Police were tipped off that some people are trying to transport illegally extracted manganese from Katesahi in Siddhamatha area.
Police raided the place and arrested eight people. The arrested were Bibek Kumar Yadav of Bihar, Md Rafique of Jharkhand, Md Tajuddin Ansari of Jharkhand, Kunesj Lakra of Barbil, Stephen Bungbung of Barbil, Jagdish Das and Gura Das of Sundergarh and Ajit Patra of Katesahi.
Preliminary investigation by police revealed that illegally mined manganese was being transported to Assansol and Durgapur.
Police have registered a case under various sections of MMDR Act and the Odisha Forest Act.
“Further investigation into the matter is on,” said Rugudi IIC Srikant Sahu.
Such seizure of illegal mineral has come to the fore even as allegations are flying thick and fast that the district level squad of the mines department has failed to keep vigil on such illegal activities.
It may be noted here that in August 2018, police seized a truck for illegally transporting manganese at Nayagad under Bamebari police limits. Interestingly, the illegal manganese was covered with a layer of iron pellets.
Nearly 10 tonnes of iron pellets and 25 tonnes of A grade manganese had been seized then.
The state mines department has resorted to various measures to check illegal mining and transport of minerals. Despite this, such illegal activities have been on the rise in the area, exposing lax steps of the mining department, locals alleged.
The result is that the state government has been losing crores of rupees as revenue.
PNN