Jajpur: Days after an industrial firm was caught mining murram from land acquired to set up its plant, the Minor Minerals department has started mapping and measuring the land with the help of drone cameras.
The Minor Minerals department raided the plant site April 12 and measurement of the land with the help of drone cameras has been underway for the last two days. The raid and drone mapping of the land took place following publication of reports on the irregularities by OrissaPOST.
Reports said the state government has been claiming that rapid industrialisation will lead to economic growth of the state and create more employment opportunities. However, the apathetic attitude of the industrial firm and its complete disregard for providing employment to the locals has caught the district administration in a quandary.
An industrial firm acquiring land with the help of IDCO for the establishment of its plant and instead using it for mining murram is a case at this point.
VCI Chemical Industries has acquired land from IDCO in Kalinganagar by depositing Rs2 crore as revenue. However, instead of establishing its plant, the firm has been using the land for murram mining and already earned Rs25 crore from sale of the minor mineral. Angered, the displaced and landless people have warned of an agitation over the issue.
Reports said that the VCI Chemical Industries was handed over 22 acre of land in Kalinganagar through IDCO for establishment of its plant.
Prior to the land acquisition, residents offered conditional support for establishment of the plant at a public hearing camp held November 29, 2023. The locals laid stress on local employment, pollution control and peripheral development.
Later, the firm took steps for establishment of a 1.0 LTPA green field coal tar distillation project on the land. Accordingly, the VCI firm engaged a consultancy agency to implement the project.
However, it backtracked on its project and decided to go for murram mining after coming to know about huge deposits of murram there. To avoid getting caught, the firm extracted murram from the land at night with the help of heavy equipment but the villagers caught the wrongdoing.
The firm was found extracting murram using heavy machinery without obtaining environmental clearance (EC), consent to operate (CTO) and consent to establish (CTE). It was later found that the extracted murram was being used in the expansion works of JakhapuraBanspani rail route project.
The residents lodged complaints with the police, Revenue and Mining departments but in vain. The Minor Minerals department conducted a probe after reports appeared in OrissaPOST and other media. During probe, the firm authorities maintained that murram was not extracted from the land and rather the land was being leveled.
The Minor Minerals department also agreed to this claim. However, after being directed by the senior authorities, officials of the Minor Minerals department conducted a probe again and directed the firm authorities to submit necessary papers, April 12.
The officials have also started drone mapping of the land from Thursday. During the probe a huge deposit of laterite stones has been found on the land. Subsequently, the VCI firm has been asked to stop mining murram.
However, it has been alleged that the firm is again violating the order. Allegedly the Minor Minerals department is not showing enough promptitude due to alleged pressure by some influential political leaders.
When contacted, Deputy Director of Minor Minerals department Jayprakash Nayak said drone cameras are being used in view of the large area of the land and action will be taken on the basis of the probe findings.
PNN
