Joda: Authorities of a mining firm have committed irregularities in the construction of a road by clearing a forest without conducting any gram sabha at Tonto village under Bhadrasahi panchayat of Joda mining division in Keonjhar district, a report said. The road construction was taken up by the mining firm for the transportation of minerals from its Roida-II mines at Tonto. Peeved over the issue, more than 1,300 villagers including women have been staging a sit-in at the place for the last 100 days demanding a high-level inquiry into the alleged wrongdoing. The matter came to the fore when the villagers narrated the issue before the media while its jungle committee demanded an impartial probe.
The villagers alleged that Narbheram Company owns the Roida-II mines in Tonto. The mining firm flouted norms and constructed a road in a forest by clearing the green cover without conducting any gram sabha. The villagers alleged that the mining firm has constructed the road even without the approval of Mines department. Villagers and members of the village committee Sukadev Munda, Budhuni Munda, Radhika Munda, Gora Munda, Muni Munda and Suna Munda have alleged that the mining firm has felled 40-feet tall trees and cleared the hills without conducting any gram sabha. The mining firm also did not consult with the jungle committee before taking up the road construction. The mining firm has siphoned off iron ores, blue dust (precious iron ores) and other stones weighing thousands of tonnes while cutting down the hill using heavy stone-cutting equipment, the villagers and members of the jungle committee alleged.
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Kasturi Oram, former sarpanch of the panchayat, said the mining firm has cut down trees from the forest without conducting any gram sabha. It has also swindled large volumes of iron ore and earned crores in premium without the approval of the Mines department. Demanding a thorough investigation into the issue, she alleged that the mining firm had smuggled more than 1 lakh tonne iron ore to a nearby plant.
Sources in the office of the deputy director of mines at Joda said that the office has seized over 5,000 MT iron ore in the first phase and 35,000-tonne iron ore in second phase of construction of the road by clearing forest cover of 700 metre in length. Keonjhar DFO Dhanraj HD said the road is being constructed with the approval of the Union government. Barbil forest ranger Ranjan Kalo said the state government has approved the construction of the road.