Bhubaneswar: Owners of the stone crushers from across the state, Sunday, urged the government to avail a stone quarry to each crusher unit so that they would not have to depend on anti-socials engaged in stone quarrying business. The members of the ‘All Orissa Stone Crusher Owner’s Federation’ in a presser Sunday urged the government to implement single window system in state to clear all the bottlenecks and bureaucratic hurdles for procuring a license.
The federation expressed its concerns over shortage of raw materials in the aftermath of the special drive against illegal stone quarrying in Khurda. They alleged that the STF also took action against some genuine crusher owners on charges of illegal procurement of the raw materials from the mining mafias. The members asserted that the crusher owners, prior to the special drive by the STF team, were not aware of the requirement of special ‘Y’ form for the purchase of spalls from the quarrying units.
They requested the state government to issue black stone quarry in the name of the crusher units or else supply spalls through a corporation after taking all the hillocks under the sole control of the government.
The body informed in the presser that most of the crusher units running in Khurda have been established on plots leased by Lord Jagannath Temple Administration, Puri. They accused the government of increasing the amount of fee arbitrarily every few years putting extreme financial burden on the crusher units. Some of the crusher units in Khurda, grappling with financial problems, have also closed down their units since July 27.
Some crusher owners from Berhampur accused that the administration that availed them quarries have still not given permission for blasting in order to fetch the black stone spalls despite the lapse of several years. They lamented that whenever anyone tries to blast they are being held by police and labeled as Maoists.
The body requested immediate action in this regard to save the crusher owners from going bankrupt. There are around 1,300 stone crushers including 400 odd in Khurda alone.