VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, April 1: JMM MLA Sita Soren on Friday submitted a petition to Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais against alleged encroachment of the forest land by a Chhattisgarh-based company RKTC- BLA in Chatra district. Without naming anyone she said that not only officials, even the minister is involved in this illegal act.
Sita Soren alleged that whenever she raised the question in the assembly the forest department gave a misleading and false reply. “To verify the matter, I visited the area and found the allegation true. I was amazed that when I raised this matter in the assembly the forest minister was seen standing with the company. He was even talking to regularize this illegal act of the company which damaged the reserved forest,” she said in her letter to the Governor.
Sita Soren, who met the Governor, said Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) and the state forest department are supporting the company in encroaching forest land for mining purposes at Tandwa in the Chatra district. She said that such plunder and destruction of natural resources adversely affected tribal identity and culture.
“The government has just deviated from its path. Government officials and private companies are engaged in the loot in Jharkhand. The situation is that the officials do not take action even if the information is given in writing. They mislead the government by giving wrong answers even if the matter is raised in the assembly,” the letter reads.
She said that the situation has become alarming that officials try to justify corruption. She said that in 2019-2020 the said company blessed by the CCL got the contract to transport 8000 metric tonnes of coal from Amrapali coal mines to Phulbasia railway sidings. The contract is worth Rs 300 crore. Under the contract, the transportation will have to be done via Tandwa Shahid Chowk. The distance between the mining site and the railway sidings is 34 km. In the meantime, the company cleared 4.57 acres of forest land at Kumdagkhurd to transport coal. It reduced the distance by nine km but the company is claiming transportation costs on the basis of the old distance. In this way, the company is earning a profit of Rs 10 lakh per day.
After much public uproar, the forest department registered case 521/2021. But no investigation report has been submitted to help the accused, she said.
Sita Soren claimed that the company did not stop destroying forests for its own purposes. The company bagged another contract of transportation from mines to Shivpur railway sidings. Again, the company fell trees at Honhe reserved forest area to shorten the distance. After much public agitation, the forest department lodged a case against the company and officials.
