Kaliapani: Murram is being illegally lifted from forest land in Chingudipal under Sukinda Tehsil in Jajpur district, due to alleged apathy of the revenue and forest department. Mafia has been clearing trees to make space for murram quarrying while the revenue officials have taken no action against them, alleged locals.
As a result, the forest is getting destroyed while the government is losing revenue. A contractor engaged in laying a road from Gurjang to Chingudipal is said to have been mining murram from the forest land. Whenever villagers had opposed such illegality in the past, the contractor Uday Pati threatened the villagers, they lamented.
The villagers pointed out that some big tress got uprooted due to murram mining. Though a huge pit has been created, the revenue officials visiting the area have failed to take note of the illegality, they added.
What surprised the locals was Kankadapal revenue inspector Malati Tudu said there was no such information and action will be taken against those involved if they were found guilty.
PNN