Jaleswar: Acting on a directive from Balasore Collector K Sudarshan Chakravarthy, Jaleswar tehsildar Shankar Patnaik Wednesday issued show-cause notices to 53 brick kiln owners operating in the tehsil limits.
According to a source, illegal brick kiln owners have been dumping quarried soil and other minerals at secret locations by giving a slip to officials and thereby duping the administration of revenue worth crores of rupees.
It is being alleged that brick kiln owners have been importing coal from other states without paying royalty and producing about 40,000 to 50,000 bricks a day. They are also engaging child labourers, the source added.
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Notably, amid several allegations of illegal sand quarrying from Subarnarekha riverbed under Jaleswar tehsil limits and duping the administration of revenue, cases were earlier filed with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in New Delhi and Kolkata.
Similar allegations have been raised at different times against brick kilns mushrooming in the tehsil limits and quarrying soil here.
PNN