Sajanagad: Upset over rampant murram mining, hundreds of people from several panchayats under Nilagiri sub-division in Balasore district blocked Sheragad-Udala state highway-19 at Podashula for six hours, disrupting vehicular movement on the road Thursday.
The agitating people accused Nilagiri tehsildar of showing undue favour to murram mafia in the area.
Protestors alleged that an influential person of Bitusahi in Bhunripada panchayat has got temporary permission from the tehsildar to dig ponds for a farm house owner. As per official guidelines, the murram should have been used for building spurs. The person has been earning crores of rupees by mining murram from the area.
They also pointed out that the murram mining has not got any pollution clearance, mining plan and environment clearance.
The agitators held the tehsildar responsible for allowing such murram loot from a reserve forest land.
Locals demanded a vigilance probe into such illegal dealing and assess the damage caused by the murram mafia. They demanded recovery of penalty from the guilty. They also alleged that trees were felled to make a road through the forest.
Balasore ADM Manas Ranjan Padhi, Nilagiir MLA Sukant nayak, sub-collector Aboli Sunil Narwane, additional tehsildar Rakesh Panda, the SDPO and the IIC rushed to the spot and assured agitators that the illegality would be probed and action taken against the guilty.
“None is above laws and action will be taken after probe,” said the ADM. The agitators relented following such assurance.