BARIPADA: Illegal quartz stone mining continues unabated in the forests of Sarashkana block in the district even as officials concerned look the other way.
It is alleged that mafia from West Bengal and Jharkhand in nexus with middlemen and a few officials have been exploiting locals to collect quartz stones. The practice is rampant in Dhakadihi, Milkudihi, Barudbeda, Pusidunguri, Uchhagaon-Sunamuhin and Patkia villages of the block. The residents of these villages collect the stones from nearby forests and sell them to the mafia at throwaway prices.
Sources said three-four trucks enter the forests every day to collect the stones from the villagers. The middlemen encourage the tribals to collect the stones with the lure of augmenting their income. Hit by the lockdown, the villagers, unable to sell forest produce in markets, sold the stones at even lower prices. The practice has been continuing for years under the nose of the district administration and officials of Mining department.
A resident of Patkia said the mafia smuggle the stones from the block through Jamsola check gate and Barudbeda on the border with Jharkhand. He said owing to complicity of officials, police personnel and middlemen, the stone laden trucks cross the border without any hassles. The movement of such trucks has damaged the road to Sarashkana.
The worst hit is the Subarnarekha canal road, which links the main road to Sarashkana chowk. This has not only been causing inconvenience to locals but also hindering movement of emergency vehicles like ambulances on the stretch.
Sarashkana tehsildar Satyaban Naik said as per official records, a private agency has taken a quartz stone quarry on lease in Paktia area. But tonnes of stones are being illegally quarried from the reserve and open forests in the block.
He said during his tenure of four months, he has seized at least four trucks carrying quartz stones from the area and also received more than 60 phone calls from middlemen and scribes to explain his action. "I was told that a tehsildar is not authorised to seize stone laden trucks and the authority to do so lies with the district mining officer," Naik said.
District Mining Officer Surendra Kumar Sinku admitted that the quartz stones are being smuggled from the block to other states and said he will contact Jharpokharia police and conduct joint raids to stop the practice.