Baripada: Illegal mining and smuggling of minor minerals have assumed an alarming proportion in Mayurbhanj district.
According to sources, rampant blasting is going on for extraction of stones on the Similipal foothills and adjoining areas in complete violation of environmental norms. Similarly, a huge amount of sand is illegally extracted from the quarries and smuggled outside.
The illegal mining and smuggling of minor minerals have resulted in loss of precious revenue to the state exchequer. Moreover, the state government is also losing revenue in crores as 157 quarries are lying closed or under suspension over various reasons.
The district administration is well aware but yet to take strong measures to check the illegal mining and transportation of minerals. Moreover, inadequate manpower is a deterrent for the administration to launch crackdowns.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has intervened on illegal mining and smuggling of sand, stones and murram but the administration is allegedly not doing enough to check such theft.
The state government has handed over the management of minor minerals from the Revenue department to the Minor Minerals department.
The district has 203 quarries under the jurisdiction of 26 tehsils. Meanwhile, a total of 161 quarries including 77 sand quarries, 86 stone quarries and one murram quarry have been transferred to the jurisdiction of Minor Minerals department except 42 quarries, which have cases pending at the NGT. A total of 133 quarries are lying closed in the district, which include 64 sand quarries and 69 stone quarries. As per official sources, 70 (40 sand quarries, 29 stone quarries and one murram quarry) have been leased out in the district to various leaseholders.
However, 24 including two stone quarries and 22 sand quarries are yet to become operational as the leaseholders are yet to submit necessary documents and sign agreement with the concerned tehsils. The rest 46 including 17 sand quarries, 27 stone quarries and one murram quarry are in operation and minerals are being transported through e-pass.
Similarly, two of the quarries scheduled for auction are Gopabandhu Nagar and the Budhabalanga sand quarries Betanoti-1. However, the
NGT has issued a stay order on Betanoti quarry due to an error found in the district survey report. NGT issued the order following allegations that the district administration auctioned the quarry without conducting any fresh survey and on the basis of an old survey report.
On the other hand, smuggling of minerals has been on the rise with a sharp rise in demand. The illegal miners are not even sparing quarries which have been closed down and smuggling lakhs of cubic metre (CUM) of sand and stone outside the district to Balasore, Bhadrak and even neighbouring Jharkhand and West Bengal for a premium.
Similarly, illegal blasting of explosives in stone quarries has adversely affected the environment and triggered panic among the people in the surrounding areas. Tremors are felt and houses develop cracks due to powerful blasting in the stone quarries while smoke and dust from the process are polluting the environment.
Environmental pollution and consumption of food covered with such dust has led to spread of respiratory and various other diseases. Moreover, the leaseholders and illegal miners are extracting stones beyond the permissible limits by greasing the palms of tehsil, revenue and police officials.
The risky pools get filled with rainwater during the rainy season and often become a death trap for the livestock as well as humans in the adjoining villages. Prices of minor minerals have also shot up.
When contacted, Udaya Bhanu Sahu, an officer in the Minor Minerals department blamed the absence of adequate personnel for the surge in illegal mining and smuggling. “While five officials have been engaged at the tehsil level to manage minor minerals, what can we do with the skeletal manpower at our disposal,” he questioned.
PNN