Senior officials on Friday visited the Dankari hillock at Dharmasala in Jajpur district to submit a report to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) regarding the illegal stone quarrying in the hillock. As per the NGT direction, district Collector Ranjan Kumar Das and other officials visited the hillock. “We will soon submit a report to the NGT,” said Cuttack Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) S Rehaman.
Acting on a petition of environmentalist Sarbeswar Behura, the NGT recently directed the State Government to constitute a joint inspection team to ascertain facts pertaining to illegal stone quarries operating in and around the Dankari hillock and take necessary actions against the quarry mafias and close the illegal quarries.
Behura has alleged in his petition that the continuously increasing illegal quarry works have been posing danger to the hill and nearby villages since long. Local goons and contractors have been illegally quarrying in many hillocks, but the authorities are not taking any steps against them, the petitioner has further alleged.
Since the quarry business does not involve any investment but only profit, the contractors in their greed continue to mint money at the coast of environment, culture and lives of poor people. While the digging and cutting of the laterite stones in the desired sizes do not require any machines, the contractors engage labourers to do the job, the petitioner has pointed out.