Cuttack: A petition has been filed with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) alleging rampant illegal quarrying of laterites in Madanpur Mouza under Ghasipura tehsil of Keonjhar district.
Keonjhar Collector, divisional forest officer (DFO), Ghasipura tehsildar, and secretaries of Revenue and Forest departments were made parties to the case.
In his petition, former local sarpanch, Sudhanshu Sekhar Kuanar, has informed the environment watch-dog that in an attempt to make every villager economically self-sufficient, the state government had allowed poor villagers of Madanpur to enjoy the benefits from the casuarina plantation on a 100-acre land in the mouza under Economic Rehabilitation of the Rural Poor (ERRP) around 30 years back.
However, in the year 2000, the stone mafia began laterite quarrying at the location. Irked over the rampant illegal mining, villagers had approached the local tehsildar and even the district Collector on several occasions, but to no avail.
According to the petitioner, the illegal mining has added to the pollution in the locality. “Hundreds of tractors ferry illegally mined laterite. This not only serves a severe blow to the state exchequer, but also inconveniences children, especially school- goers,“ the petition reads.
Besides, wild animals from the nearby Patilo Reserve Forests often get caught in the quarry and end up losing lives. Moreover, water from the hills, which could have been used for farming in the locality, now gets accumulated in the mining area. This hits the irrigation too.
Alleging that a few unscrupulous officials of the district administration work hand- in-glove with the mafia to make some extra bucks, the petitioner said illegal miners have almost grasped the entire casuarina forest in the locality.
Advocate Shankar Prasad Pani, appearing on behalf of the petitioner, said that at a time when permissions from multiple agencies, including Pollution Control Board, is required to commence stone mining, several miners have been operating in the area, brazenly violating norms.