Baripada: As Mayurbhanj administration is busy fighting COVID-19; the mafia here is banking on the occasion to loot minor minerals like sand and murram in remote and tribal pockets. At this crisis hour when the cash-strapped government is requiring funds to boost economy, rampant loot of minor minerals has caused huge loss of revenue, a report said.
The report said that wanton mining of minor minerals in many areas has been cause of concern for the locals.
They alleged that mafia having links with a particular party has been carrying out illegal extraction of sand and murram in different areas under Rasgobindapur, Morada, Shuliapada, Saraskana, Bangiriposi, Shyamakhunta, Betanoti and Badasahui.
Locals and the BJP alleged that at this time, the government is losing crores of revenue every day.
A delegation of the saffron party met Collector Vineet Bhardwaj and drew his attention towards this.
It alleged that excavators have been engaged to quarry sand from the river while truck and tractor loads of sand are being transported to various areas on a daily basis.
Mafia with backing of the ruling party has been extracting from sand and murram mines which have not been leased out. The minor minerals are being transported to various parts of Balasore and neighbouring West Bengal, the BJP delegation said.
Submitting a memorandum to the Collector, they demanded strong action against the mineral mafia.
PNN