Violating strict directives of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on environmental clearance, rampant illegal mining of minor minerals is going on in Khariar block.
A total of 23 stone quarries are in operation in the block out of which 22 are running without Environment Clearance (EC) from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). These mining leases include six temporary permits allotted on the basis of work orders issued to contractors for execution of Government construction works, which is again a violation of environmental guidelines.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2013, following a Supreme Court judgement (Deepak Kumar Vs State of Haryana and others), banned mining of minor minerals such as sand, gravel, brick earth, mud and other stones in less than 5 hectares of land lease without environmental clearance from SEIAA.
The Supreme Court judgement clearly laid down provisions for minor minerals, which the EIA notification 2006 did not address and, noted that “leases of minor mineral, including their renewal for an area of less than five hectares, be granted by the States/Union Territories only after getting environmental clearance from the MoEF.”
This forced the MoEF to amend the Environment Impact Assessment notification, 2006 in the year 2013. But the amendment has no impact on the mining in any manner; rather it can be said that a lot of it is facilitated by the State Government/district administration in the name of expediting Government works. The local revenue authority says that Principal Secretary to Government of Odisha, Revenue and Disaster Management Dr Mona Sharma has directed the district Collectors vide her letter dated December 21, 2015 to issue permits for public work on request of the respective agencies by following Rule 30 of OMMC Rules, 2004, which according to them did not need environment clearance from the SEIAA.
The temporary permit holders in connivance with the corrupt officials of Revenue Department are doing more harm to the environment than the five-year lease holders. To extract more materials within a short period, they even use machineries to go beyond the permissible depth and width. They also cheat the Government in different ways. None of them obtains EC and secondly, the lease period is renewed several times illegally allowing them to continuously expand the mining area.
Haresh Agrawal, a contractor, obtained licence for extracting stone in two quarries (Plot No.710 and 446 of 358 of Khata) in Rishgaon village under Tukla Revenue Circle on the basis of the work execution orders from department of RD. It is clearly visible that the quarry area has exceeded more than one hectare although the sketch map shown is for half an acre of land in both the places, but the Revenue authority has not restricted him from doing that. The lease of the quarries has been renewed three times on same work orders. It is learnt that, Haresh is a dummy for another person who mines and collects stone to run his crusher near Rishigaon village.
“There are many such contractors in the block who act as dummies for different crusher owners, which is a violation of Rule 33 (2) of OMMC Rules 2004,” says Chitta Ranjan Singh Deo, one of the leading advocates of Nuapada district. “These informal transfers of quarries cannot be established without a vigilance investigation,” he adds.
Dilip Behera of Bhojpur village has been granted a two-month quarry permit under rule 32 of Orissa Minor Mineral Concession Rules 2003 for extraction and removal of 300 cum of stones from Plot No 1970 of Bhojpur village. His two month period ended on March 31 last, but he is still continuing with the mining with the knowledge of the Revenue Department. “We are forced to pay more than the prescribed amount to a clerk of Khariar Tehsil Office who deals with the mining lease section,” says a temporary permit holder. “He takes Rs 60,000 for giving permit of 300 cum, although the prescribed amount is Rs 30, 300,” he adds.
“The corrupt officials find their way to make money, even if there are laws and rules to check them from doing that. Without having any concern over the environmental impact of the stone quarrying, these quarry contractors extract the minerals. Some of the quarries are located very near Rishi Pitha, which is one of the important archaeological places of Nuapada” says Khirasindhu Sagaria, an RTI activist and a member of Durniti Birodhi Manch (DBM), Khariar. Sagaria informed that, the DBM has drawn the attention of the higher authorities demanding vigilance inquiry on illegal mining of stone and sand in Khariar block.
There are a number of small mining leases in and around the Rishi Pitha hill. Taking into consideration the cumulative environmental impact from small mining leases, there is a need to develop an environmental management plan (EMP) for clusters of small mines. But without caring such sensitive issues the Revenue Department is awarding leases repeatedly.