At least 200 villagers staged a protest against illegal stone quarrying activities in the Dankari hillock under Dharmasala tehsil in Jajpur district on Tuesday.
They demanded immediate arrest of the quarry mafias who have been illegally quarrying in the hillock. “We have demanded before the authorities many times to stop the illegal quarrying, but in vain. large scale illegal quarrying has posed serious environmental problem in nearby villages, said lili Mallick of Dankari village.
The continuous illegal quarry works have posed danger to the hill since long. But the authority did not take any action against the contractor, said Nabakishor Das of Chadehiguha village.
The villagers alleged that the illegal quarries operating across the areas were creating environment pollution and wanted the Government to take action against them.
local people, especially women, were on agitation path demanding closure of illegal stone quarries.
Stringent action would be taken against quarries operating in the area without due licence from the Pollution Control Board. Instructions have been given to police officers to arrest all the illegal quarry owners, said Jajpur Sub-Collector Maheswar Panigrahi.