VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 10: Even the Indian Railway is not immune from the accusation as the key instrument of the illegal transportation of the mines and minerals especially stone chips and boulders from the districts of Santhal Pargana.
There are at least two cases of the alleged theft and transportation of stone chips and boulders in which railway officials have been named as an accused along with the concerned mining officer of the district. Both cases were reported in the Sahibganj district which is under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate for illegal mining. Even if the matter is under the scrutiny of the law, allegations are serious in nature that may have serious ramifications.
The first complaint was lodged by one Mukesh Yadav early this year against the chief controller railway (Malda), DOM of Eastern Railway Rajesh Ranjan, DCM Aman Kumar, traffic inspector Muneshwar Yadav, station master of Sahibganj railway station Rajhansh Pathak, goods clerk of Eastern Railway Dhananjaya Yadav and the divisional security commissioner of the railway Rahul Raj. There are many other politically powerful persons, including Pankaj Mishra, Dahu Yadav, and others who have been named as an accused.
The complainant is the manager of a private company Jai Bajrang Walee Stone Works and the company is said to be engaged in the mining and transportation of boulders mainly to the railway. He said that the railway had allotted land to the company on both sides of the track at Sakrigali Ghat for the purpose of stocking, loading, and supplying through the railway wagon.
He said that the railway officials in a conspiracy with private persons issued an indent in favour of the company Maa Shitla Works owned by one Sanjay Yadav. The indent notified the Sakrigali Ghat which was already allotted to the company of the complainant through an agreement. He said that the railway sent the company a notice to remove all stone chips and boulders from that site or give a declaration that the dumped stone chips are not related to the company. Mukesh Yadav said that they were prevented by the accused from relocating stone chips and the material was looted by them. In the court complaint, the complainant said that stone chips of his company were looted and forcibly transported through railway wagons. He claimed that stone chips were transported without generating a transportation permit and railway officials were actively involved in the crime. Under the rule, no mineral product can be transported without having a transportation permit from the DMO which is granted only after payment of royalty of equivalent material to the government. The estimated cost of the stone chips was around Rs 50 lakh.
The second court complaint has a similar nature and the complainant is Rohit Kumar of the same company. The complainant refers to another case of the loot of the stone chips of the company dumped on the railway site as authorized by the railway under an agreement. He said that the stone chips of the company were looted and transported through railway wagons. In this case, DMO Eastern Railway Rajesh Ranjan, DCM Eastern Railway Aman Kumar, Sahibganj station manager Gautam Asthana, goods clerk, Sahibganj DMO Bibhuti Kumar, Pankaj Mishra, his relatives, and other private persons have been named as accused. In this case, SDPO of Rajmahal Arvind Kumar Singh, DSP of Sahibganj Rajendra Kumar Dubey are the accused.
