Pravin Kumar
Koderma: The glow of Jharkhand’s Koderma has faded which used to shine with the glow of mica with no legal mine in the district but illegal trade is going on continuously.
The livelihood of the people of the area is dependent on collecting mica from the forest area of the old mine area in which most of the children of the working-age of 16 years are indulged.
In the 1980s there were about 750 mica mines operating in Koderma and Giridih districts which were closed citing the Forest Conservation Act. The economy of the area collapsed due to the closure of the mica mines though illegal business is still continuing in the area.
Local people say that the turnover of the mica’s waste is in the range of 200-300 crores per year. The work of preparing the sawdust by collecting the waste is done at about 30-40 places in the district. The local traders buy that sawdust between a range of 5 to 20 rupees per kg. This garbage is such a treasure that since 1980 an estimated range of Rs 300 crore business is being done every year.
According to the estimates of experts, two lakh tonnes of mica are exported abroad every year. The government has also given this business in principle recognition by auctioning this garbage dump once or twice. But looking at its other aspects, it is clear that the entire business is related to illegal mining, in which the nexus of mafia politicians, officers and criminals are in a big role.
In the forest area of Koderma, Giridih and Nawada district of Bihar, illegal mining of mica is being done in the wild area in the name of Dhibra (local name for mica scrap). According to an estimate, illegal mining of mica is being done frequently through dozens of JCBs these days in the wild areas of Koderma and Nawada, Bihar.
Thousands of tonnes of mica are brought from the forest area to the warehouses and factories of the city through Shaktimaan (trucks) and other vehicles. Then mica is processed and exported abroad. At present, most of the excavation is being done from the closed mica mines in Savaiyatand Panchayat and its nearby places like Faguni, Sethwa, Sarada, Lalki etc. After the year 2016, the lease of these mines has not been renewed, but mining is going on indiscriminately by the mafia. There is also a lot of use of fake invoices in this.
The experts of Mica illegal business say that Mica which is obtained from illegal mining by the smugglers of Koderma is sent abroad from Kolkata Port through two exporters of Jhumritilaiya. This business is indirectly dominated by criminals, who play the role of middlemen in the business.
