Theft of valuable manganese ore is going unabated in Keonjhar district and no visible action is taken by the authorities to rein in the mafias.
On Wednesday when the Barbil police seized a truck No. UP - 65 FT carrying about 30 mt of high grade manganese ore from Thankurari reserve forest under Barbil forest section, the matter of ore theft was confirmed.The value of the seized material is estimated to be more than Rs 1,80,000 at the present market value. The truck had a plan to go outside the State through Bileipada situated near the border of neighboring Jharkhand.
Sources revealed that a racket of manganese theft is working in connivance with some venal forest officials, staff of private security agency and local people of nearby mining village of Railka.
Last time, on November 18, a squad of mining department had seized a manganese truck. At that time when we wanted to know the views of the Forester, Bileipada sections, he had skipped.
However, thanks to the Barbil police for its vigilant action on such illegal activities, raids are being carried out regularly to crack down on the miscreants involved in mining theft.