Jajpur: There is no letup in illegal mining of minor minerals in Jajpur district as miscreants are stealing murram with impunity from Kacheri village under Jakhpura panchayat and Danagadi tehsil in Jajpur district on the pretext of using it for construction of industrial plants in Kalinganagar.
In a bid to check the loot of minor minerals, the state government has handed over its control to the Mines department. However, the move by the state government has been left frustrated with unabated illegal mining and transportation of murram.
An industrial firm VCI Chemical Private Limited is constructing a plant at Kacheri village. The concerned contractor was seen extracting murram from the plant premises as well as its periphery and transporting it outside for a premium. The illegally extracted murram is also being used in construction of a rail route from Jakhpura to Jajpur Road.
The Mines department issued a show-cause notice to the railway authorities a fortnight back. However, that has failed to deter the concerned contractor from extracting murram as he is reportedly carrying out the illegal works under the cover of influential political persons.
Locals alleged that the contractor is extracting hundreds of trips of murram under the pretext of using it in construction of a compound wall of the VCI plant.
The same murram extracted from the plant premises and its periphery is later sold to VCI plant at a premium. The locals also alleged that some influential persons like political representatives, mining officials, tehsil authorities and Jakhpura police officials are hand in gloves in this murram loot.
Similar allegations of murram loot are getting louder in Pankapal, Manoharpur and Jakhpura areas where the district administration is yet to launch a crackdown.
It is alleged that large volume of murram is being extracted illegally from Kacheri village and transported outside in the pretext of using it for construction of plants at Kalinganagar by allegedly greasing the palms of tehsil and mining authorities.
The tehsil authorities and the officials of Minor Minerals department are aware of the development but have stayed mum on the issue due to their alleged complicity with the miscreants.
The state government is losing revenue worth crores due to lack of any stringent action and whimsical attitude of the officials. Things have come to such a pass that minor minerals starting from sand to stone are being looted in broad daylight without any fear of retribution.
Notably, the district has huge deposits of minor minerals such as black stone, laterite stone and murram in areas under Dharmasala, Barchana, Rasulpur, Danagadi, Korei and Sukinda tehsils.
PNN