With monsoon at its full blossom, tribal dominated Mainpur block of Gariyaband district is again in limelight as hordes of diamond smugglers from neighbouring Odisha State, have set their eyes on the unguarded mines of Pailikhand storing unaccounted quantity of the precious high-quality diamond-bearing Kimberlite rocks.
Notably, Pailikhand, Behradih, Kodomali and other mines full of high quality precious stones (Kimberlite) are on the target of diamond smugglers, but the State Government has left it to the mercy of unarmed forest employees to save this Nature’s treasure from the greed of smugglers with the help of bamboo sticks.
The thing was not so pitiful till July 2009, as the State Armed Forces (SAF) jawans were guarding it round the clock for nearly 18 years since the Pailikhand diamond mines came in to light first time in 1990. But the State Government withdrew security cover on the pretext of lack of provisions of housing and other basic facilities for security jawans as the Red insurgency raised its ugly head also in this area and rebels started calling the shots as far as illegal mining was concerned.
However, Additional Superintendent of district Police l David flatly denied that any illegal mining was going on in Pailikhand or other mines in Gariyaband areas. According to David, all the mines are safe under the watchful eyes of district police even if they faced some times difficulty in conducting search operations specially in rainy season due to lack of good roads and mode of transportation.
On the other hand, people in the area claimed that even after formation of new district, Gariyaband in January 2012, no specific policy for either exploration or protection of these mines has been formed by the State administration, leaving the smugglers to make the moolah by enticing local tribal folk who readily work for them for a meagre wage of Rs 100 to Rs 200 for lifting a bagful of diamond ore (raw diamond). The illegal mining activities have not only created dangerous cave like structures in the area but also hundreds or even thousands of trees have succumbed to the greed of diamond diggers.