Miscreants involved in unlawful sand mining attacked a forest ranger as he tried to seize a sand laden truck at a jungle under Chakulia forest range under Shyamsundarpur police station area in the Ghatshila sub-division on Thursday morning.
The ranger, identified as Gorakh Ram (55), was rushed to a government-run hospital in Ghatshila for treatment of head injury. The incident took place at Tirukocha jungle at about 9 am.
OC, Shyamsundarpur thana, Vikrama Ram said that the ranger was attacked when he tried to seize a sand laden truck.
“As per our investigation, a local criminal, Chamru Soren, was gathering sands at Tirukocha jungle after raising the sands from Subernarekha ghat.
The ranger seized a truck and made a seizure list of it. As he ordered the truck driver to take the vehicle near the Chakulia range office, Chamru Soren, rushed to the spot and intercepted the ranger at Chirukocha and snatched the seizure list that he prepared after confiscating the sand-laden truck,” said the OC, Shyamsundarpur.
According to the OC, when the ranger warned Chamru of necessary action for preventing him from carrying out his duty, the accused Chamru caught hold of the ranger and hit his head with stick, causing him to sustain head injury. Chamru subsequently reached to the seized truck and drove the vehicle away.
The OC, Shyamsundarpur said though they would take necessary action against Chamru once an FIR is lodged by the victim, they have started carrying search operation for Chamru.
Unlawful sand mining has become active along the course of the Kharkai and Subarnarekha rivers. Excavation of sand, most of it illegal, to meet the requirements of the booming construction industry has put the officials of the district on their toes.
Due to regular sand lifting at the place, it is causing danger even to the rivers as thousands of tonnes of sand are being lifted every day. The authorities concerned are at all concerned over the issue, regret local people. Moreover, depletion of water tables has rendered borewells useless in the area, say villagers.
According to information on per trip basis each woman earns on an average Rs 150 per day. And those run the business do earn somewhere between Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per day.
An official of district mining department said he would take the necessary step to stop the illegal practice of piling up sand. He said that a team would visit the site to study the situation and take necessary action.
When question over the attack the official said that the range officer should have informed the police while he was seizing the sand-laden truck. Then the sand mafia would not be able to attack him.