Illegal mining goes on unabated in Dankari hills in Dharmasala tehsil limits in the district in violation of prohibitory orders clamped by the administration.

The Jajpur district administration has demarcated the quarry area on the hillock by installing red flags and recently imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in the area.

The decision came after the additional chief secretary of the state forest and environment department was directed to probe into the alleged continuous extraction of minor mineral resources and its transportation to illegal stone crushers from Dankari hills.

Accordingly, a joint team led by district collector, Jajpur superintendent of police and a host of district-level officials of various departments conducted joint raids at Dankari hillock and sealed a number of illegal quarries, which were operating for many years.

The administration also cancelled the lease of the four mineral sources in the hillock area.

Around 24 stone crushers, including many illegal, have been operating at Dankari hills. They allegedly carry out illegal mining from the hills to procure stone to run their stone crushers. “We want eradication of illegal mining at the Dankari hills. But, both the local police and district authorities have been deliberately ignoring our demands. The stone mafias are carrying out the illegal operation with the connivance of the local tehsil officials and police,” said S. Sahu, a resident of Dankari.

Villagers say on opposing the stone mafia they have faced attacks and threats to their lives many times. They alleged that the police and administration have so far ignored their repeated pleas for help. According to official reports, the district administration had permitted to carry out mining operations in four out of the 16 minor mineral sources in the Dankari hillock area. Though the administration had permitted four mineral sources to carry out mining operations, the other 12 were fully operational, although they were not leased out on pen and paper. The mafias were carrying out operation in these 12 mineral sources illegally for years.

The central government has decided to set up a strategic oil reserve with a capacity of 3.7 million metric tonne at Dankari hills to increase the storage capacity of petroleum products for use during emergency.

Accordingly, the Centre had asked the state government and district administration to close the crushers and stop mining work to start the oil project. But, the district administration took no step to close the stone crushers and to stop illegal mining.

When the district administration did not take any step in this regard, a social activist of the area had filed a petition in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to stop rampant illegal mining here. Acting on the complaint, the NGT on October 5 had ordered the state government and the district administration to take action in this connection.

Following a directive of the tribunal to the chief secretary, a special committee was also formed to inquire into the matter and a special team of state environment impact assessment committee had also visited the spot to take stock of the situation last week.

“There was no permission to carry out mining operations in Dankari hillock area. We have also clamped prohibitory orders and warned people not entry into the area. If we find anything illegal, we will file prosecution against them,” said Jajpur collector Ranjan Kumar Dash.

He admitted that although there were 16 minor mineral sources in the Dankari hillock area, the administration had permitted to carry out mining operations in four of them.