Allegations are galore over rampant soil lifting from
Government land in Tarbha tehsil, but the soil lifters go scot-free due to
a lax administration.
As per sources, an enforcement team led by the Additional Tehsildar
was on its way from Sargaj to Tarbha on March 30, when it saw a patch
of land with huge holes, from soils had been dug and lifted. The team
launched an inquiry into the illegal soil lifting.
After joint field inquiry by the Revenue Supervisor and Revenue
Inspector, Tarbha found that about a thousand trips of soil had been
lifted from Plot No – 1841, Kisam – Jalasaya and the same had been
utilised in the premises of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV), Tarbha,
whose Chairman is himself the Collector cum District Magistrate.
On the other hand, during inspection by the Tehsil administration, it was
found that the soil had been spread over three patches of the land in the
Navodaya school premises for developing a playground without giving
any royalty in lieu of the soil to the Government. Navodaya Principal
Jairam Naik also failed to produce any documents showing permission
or royalty receipt regarding the lifting of soil.
As per OMMC Rule, 2016, a sum of Rs 5, 66,449 has been imposed as
penalty for such unauthorised raising and illegal transportation of soil on
the Principal of Navodaya Vidyalaya, Tarbha.
The incident was just the tip of an ice berg. The illegal activity continues
unabated in the whole of the district with tacit support of some district
level officials. While some soil lifters earn handsomely from illegal
quarrying, the State Government loses crores of rupees of revenue,
locals alleged.
Meanwhile, the locals demanded a high level probe into the illegal soil
lifting and intervention of Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) in the
issue.