Even if there are dozens of complaints on illegal quarrying and crushers in Keonjhar district, no one bothers about serious pollution related diseases and the human tolls, collapse of houses, death of cattle in quarry gorges, disappearance of river streams and loss of soil fertility due to ash spread.
The locals have alleged a nexus between the revenue officials and crusher mafias. The affected villagers have drawn the attention of the Chief Minister and the petition committee of the Odisha Assembly to save them as their life is endangered.
The villagers of Khantaghara, Kasibeda, Khahurijuani, Mahulagadia, Tandibeda and Laxmanposi time and again have been complaining to police, revenue and forest officials but to no avail. As every one put a deaf ear to their complaints, at last they have knocked the doors of local political leaders and the CM.
The mafias and hooligans of Khantaghar village in Ghatagaon tehsil have set up crushers with a series of blasting over a vast stretch of land flouting all laws of the land with tacit support of the local Revenue department, said Ishwar Chandra Barik, Sarpanch of Khantaghar Gram Panchayat.
Illegal stone crushers and blasting is a thriving business worth Rs 100 crore in Khantaghara which is a tribal village located in Ghatgaon Block of Keonjhar district. The inhabitants of the nearby villages such as Kasibeda, Khahurijuani, Mahulagadia, Tandibeda and Laxmanposi alleged that their lives were endangered due to illegal granite quarrying, blasting and fast depletion of forest cover and greenery.
The illegal stone quarrying has a great bearing on river Sitanadi in the nearby forest areas which is now dry. Consequently, the villagers of Khahurijuani, Mahulagadia, Tandibeda, Laxmanposi and Khantaghar were facing water shortage, said Iswar Naik, Sarpanch of Khantaghara.
Dambarudhar Palei, a farmer of Khajurijuani village whose land has not yielded any crops for the third consecutive year due to thick layers of dusts of crushers over land, was dejected.
“We are facing a serious environmental crisis,” said Bidyadhar Naik of Tandibeda village with tears in eyes, whose son Akshyaya Naik ( 33) , died some months ago due to pollution related diseases.
Sasmita Naik, a +3 student, too died of similar ailments.
The Indira Awas houses given under Goverment scheme to Harihar Naik, a poor villager in Khantaghar village, Jashoda Naik of Khajurijuani village of Manoharpur gram panchayat and Anita Naik, Naib Sarpanch of Khantaghar gram panchayat, have developed cracks due to blasts in stone quarry.
The Khantaghara Gram Panchayat office is so damaged that it may cave in anytime, Naik told.
“We lost many of our cattle who fell into deep open ponds caused due to blasting and excavation of stones, which look like deep gorges or ponds.The stone blasting
site at Khantaghar is spread over two acres of land and it is only 300 metres away from the NH 20. The wildlife is also under threat,” said Sk Imran,
a villager.
When asked, Sub Collector Ramachandra Kisku assured to take action soon.