A stone-crushing unit in Naxalite-hit Rohtas district. Picture by Sanjay Choudhary

Patna, Jan. 7: The stone-crushing units located in Naxalite-affected areas of the state are on Bihar police’s radar.

The state police headquarters has decided to launch a crack down on unauthorised stone-crushing units running in Maoist-hit districts following intelligence reports that a well-knit nexus has developed between the Maoists and the proprietors of the private companies awarded contract of quarrying.

The senior police officials were taken aback when sleuths of the intelligence agencies revealed that explosives were supplied to the Maoists by the stone-crushing units running in Naxalite-hit areas of the state.

“We have come to know that a major portion of the explosives obtained by stone-crushing units in the name of their business go to the Naxalites,” said Bihar director-general of police (DGP) Neel Mani.

The DGP said even a part of the profit earned by the companies engaged in stone-crushing business goes to the Maoists as levy. “We have taken a serious note of the matter and asked the superintendents of police of the concerned districts to keep a close watch on the activities of the companies engaged in the stone-crushing business,” Neel Mani added.

The police headquarters has directed the SPs to prepare the list of the stone-crushing units located under their jurisdiction and check the stock of the explosives from time to time. “There have been reports of purchase of firearms with the money collected as levy from the stone crushers,” a senior police officer associated with the anti-Naxalite operation said.

He said the Maoists extort huge sums by imposing large levies on the stone crushers and contractors engaged in sand lifting. “We are doing our best to plug all sources of their income,” the DGP said.

The DGP also hinted at the involvement of a group of employees of the mines department in the lucrative business. “The police have received information that many stone-crushing units were running illegally with the clandestine support of the department concerned. Those public servants are under the surveillance of the investigating agency,” he added.

Over two dozen private firms have been awarded contract for stone crushing in Rohtas, Kaimur, Munger and Gaya districts, which receive a huge stock of explosives from ordinance factories outside Bihar.

“But there is no explosive controller in the state to check the stock of explosives supplied to these licensed shops,” admitted the DGP. There were reports of a large number of private firms doing trade even after lapse of their contract.

For example, Nagarjun Construction Company was awarded contract by the mines department for quarrying on a plot of about 4 acres of hillocks in Dhauwadadh under Dehri-on-Sone sub-division in Rohtas. The Rohtas district magistrate had issued an order on May 13, 2010 to stop the quarrying on the hillocks for its failure to pay the installment of the revenue on time.

When sub-divisional officer of the irrigation department Rajesh Singh inspected the site on May 22, 2010 he was surprised to find that quarrying was going on in violation of the order of the district magistrate.

The sub-divisional officer (SDO) also found that the labourers hired by the company were quarrying on 100 acres of hillocks illegally.

The SDO immediately reported the matter to the Rohtas SP, who, in turn, ordered the station house officer of Mufassil police station to lodge a case. Subsequently an FIR (No. 478/10) was lodged on May 24, 2010. The SDO, in his report to the senior officials of the department, pointed out that the mines department had awarded the contract for quarrying on the hillocks that belonged to the irrigation department after obtaining no-objection certificate from the water resource department.

The SDO also revealed that as per the order of the irrigation department (vide letter No. 606 dated August 13, 2007), quarrying was allowed on 100 acres of hillocks to supply stone chips for the construction of road under Prime Minister Golden Quadrilateral Project (PMGQ ) in Bihar. “As the work under PMGQ project has been put to an end, there is no need to continue quarrying on the hillocks,” the officer said in his report.

He said the district mines officer awarded the contract for quarrying without taking him and the executive engineer of Dehri division of the irrigation department into confidence. As a result, quarrying was being done causing a huge loss to the government exchequer, the SDO said.