THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, March 5: The Medininagar Forest Division has launched a drive against illegal stone mining. The Chhaterpur subdivision is a cluster of stone quarries.
The licensed stone quarries are as blatant violators as the illegal ones. The Modus operandi of the two is similar.
The management of the stone quarries steals the boulders. They overstep on the land illegally. Palamu’s rocks are strange. Rock sits on rocks. It’s very easy to dismantle them.
The stone quarries have no proper internal road. There is no facility for water sprinkling to bring down the dust. The green belt is not raised. The stone quarry remains without a boundary wall.
Concerns for human habitat and environment are wanting. In Chhaterpur, there is a cluster of stone-crushing plants where the distance between one crusher plant and the other is only some foot steps away.
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It’s strange as to what SEIAA (State Environment Impact Assessment Authority) saw and did. What the district environment committee overlook and why. Big of all, the state pollution control board never bothered about the flagrant violations of the cluster of the stone quarries and crushing plants.
Forest Officials Face Obstruction and Intimidation
The last two weeks in February were quite challenging for the Medininagar Forest Division officials.
Its officers were frightened. The official vehicle was obstructed. The road to the stone quarries was blocked with the help of hywa. All these to prevent the forest officials from doing their survey and inspection.
The Medininagar Forest Division officials acted with restraint. They didn’t overreact. They knew the sinister tricks of the management of the stone quarries. The management had a plan for unrest and confrontation, even physical. The forest officials played calm and cool.
Sources said had the Medininagar Forest Division officials acted in any panic or haste, the situation could have taken a turn for the worst, which the stone quarries management was aiming at.
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Authorities Determined to Enforce the Law
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the Medininagar forest division Satyam Kumar said, “Our team was for survey and demarcation and to see where the violations are and where the rocks and boulders are stolen by the stone quarries. The stone quarries people threw spanner into our official duty. There is a law of the land. The law will take its own course. No violator can get away.”
“The dubious elements had blocked the road to stone quarries with hywa. The motive behind this is not difficult to understand. Such tricks and tactics will never deter our forest officials. We are determined to curb and contain illegal stone mining and transportation by all means.”
