The district administration on Thursday sealed 55 illegal stone crusher units on Thursday under Dharamshala Tehsil in Jajpur district.
The district administration has recently identified 243 illegal crusher units in the district and decided to shut down all these units, said Jajpur ADM Akshay Kumar Malick.
“The Orissa High Court has recently directed the district administration to shut down all the illegal crusher unit within January 9, 2021 after hearing a PIL for which we formed a task force comprising all the Tehsildars , BDOs , labour officials, officials of Odisha State Pollution Control Board and police to close all the illegal units,” added Malick.
When contacted, district stone crusher unit owners’ association general secretary Chandan Nayak said, “Around 30,000 workers are earning their livelihood by working in many crusher units in the district. We welcome the decision of the district administration to shift all the crusher units to safer places far away from the highways and villages.”
“160 persons applied before the authorities to get land to open crusher units . But the officials are yet to allot land to them . It is high time the authorities shift all the units as soon as possible for the benefit of the workers and owners,” Nayak added.