Most of the stone crushers in Nuapada district are running without having legal source of minor minerals. The Durniti Birodhi Manch (DBM), a people’s forum fighting corruption, had brought this matter to the knowledge of the Chief Minister last month.
The CM’s office had directed the district Collector to inquire into the issue and submit a report. The matter was investigated by a district-level team formed by the Collector, and it found that seven stone crushers of Khariar tehsil possessed large quantities of minor minerals without having any legal source of mining.
The crusher units had been sealed for not showing proofs regarding their sources of the raw material. However, five of these crushers have been allowed to run again even though the crusher owners have not been able to produce documentary proofs for legal sources of their stocks.
As a rule, the crushers should procure stone from the quarries which have obtained Environment Clearance (EC) from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and have executed lease agreements with the tehsildar for mining of minor minerals according to the Orissa Minor Minerals Concession rules.
Most of the quarries in Khariar rehsil have no EC, and three of them which have obtained EC have not yet executed lease agreement. Under such circumstance, none of the quarries in the tehsil are legally entitled to produce minor minerals. But interestingly, the crushers in the tehsil were running for years without having any legal source of minor minerals.
Sealing of seven crushers had created a hope among the public that illegal mining of stones would be stopped and the lawbreakers would be penalised. But unfortunately, the district administration, instead of taking action, gave green signals to the crushers to continue with their illegal practices.
The officials deputed by the Collector for investigating the illegal practices say that crushers were allowed to run as they produced Form -”R” as proof of legal procurement of stones from mines. “R” forms are transit pass for minor minerals supplied by the tehsildar to the quarry leaseholders, which is issued to the carrier driver while transporting minor minerals from the quarry to the crushers or any other places.
The Durniti Birodhi Manch claims that issue of Form “R” prior to the execution of lease agreement is illegal. “When the quarries are yet to execute lease agreements, how can the tehsildar issue Form “R” to the leaseholders,” ask Manch members. “There must have been underground dealings between the investigating team and the crusher owners to cover up the illegalities,” they add.
The DBM has again drawn the attention of the district Collector in this regard. “We will continue to fight against the illegal mining,” said DBM members.