RAJESH KUMAR PANDEY
Dumka: The district administration on Sunday launched a massive crackdown against the ongoing illegal coal mining in different localities situated in the deep forests of the rebel hit Shikaripara police station area.
The SDO (Civil) Maheshwar Mahto who led the team of the mining task force said that over one and a half dozen mining pits and tunnels were dozered during the long operation of eight-hour. This was the most massive drive ever launched in the district against rampant illegal mining of coal in the district.
“Altogether ten heavy earth movers were pressed into service to dozer the tunnels constructed by the miners in deep forests situated in Lutiyapada, Badalpada and Kalyanpur area during nearly eight-hour long operation” said the SDO.
“The team comprised a large number of security forces to thwart any such possibility of resistance from the mining mafias,” he added.
The task force has also recovered illegally excavated coal from those spots which were transported to the Shikaripara block headquarters on five tractors.
This is however not for the first time that the district task force of mining resorted to such type of operation but the coal mafias conspicuously remain throughout unidentified by the administration like Sunday’s operation.
On the previous occasions the taskforce had to witness stiff resistance from the villagers residing in adjoining localities believably being instigated by the mining mafias as the contraband practice has turned out to be a regular source of livelihood for them notwithstanding the risk of lives involved in the same.
Earlier the district mining taskforce had launched a similar operation in Gopikandar block area of the district and several illegal coal pits were dozered a month ago.
“Investigation is still on to identify the culprits involved in illegal mining of minerals and its transportation so as to initiate suitable legal action against them all” the SDO stated.
