LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, Dec 15: Illegal mining has been confirmed in 100 acres area of the Dumuhani river of the Pankri Barwadih Coal Project area of NTPC. Forest department, district administration and NTPC officers to the top officials of the state are accepting that illegal mining has taken place but no one has taken responsibility for it.
Notably, Mantu Soni, who has raised questions on illegal mining, says that the officers are trying to cover up the matter. He added that the biggest question is where did the extracted coal go?
Notably, Triveni-Sainik Mining Private Limited, which has been mining for NTPC, has been extracting coal from the Pankri-Barwadih Coal Project for the last two years. Illegal mining has not stopped even after the confirmation of illegal mining in 100 acres area by destroying the lifeline Dumuhani river in violation of the conditions of the Central Forest Clearance and recommending a fine of Rs 23 crores by the DFO.
Neither anyone is coming to investigate illegal mining nor is anyone ready to take responsibility. NTPC officers are also pulling the plug in this regard and are trying to clean themselves up by putting all the blame on Triveni-Sainik Mining Private Limited.
Regarding illegal mining, Amit Kumar Behera, PRO of NTPC’s Ranchi office said that NTPC cannot be called directly responsible for illegal mining. Illegal mining has been done by MDO (Triveni-Sainik Mining Private Limited) and this matter has been answered long ago.
When asked who will take action on MDO? Behera said he would ask his senior officers and get an official quote in this regard.
Moreover, Arvind Dev, Assistant General Manager of Triveni-Sainik Mining Private Limited, says that they are contractors and they do whatever NTPC tells them to do. They cannot do mining anywhere without the instructions of NTPC. The mining of Dumuhani Nala and Pakwa Nala was also done only at the behest of NTPC officials.
Regarding the Pankri-Barwadih coal project, the DFO in its report accepted the illegal mining but did not hold anyone guilty. His report is now under question.
A team from Lagatar also called Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh, Forest Environment and Climate Change Additional Chief Secretary L Khiangte, Mines Secretary Abu Bakar Siddiqui, Hazaribag DC Nancy Sahay to take a stand in the matter. Questions were also sent to the official numbers of all the officers, but all remained silent.
On Mantu Soni’s complaint, the Union Environment Ministry sent a letter to the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand on September 12, 2022, asking him to take action. However, before this, the complaint had already reached the Chief Secretary. On August 1, he sent a letter to the Mines Secretary asking him to take action on letter number 4418/2022.
On the other hand, on August 16, the Chief Secretary had written a letter to the Forest Department regarding illegal mining, whose letter number is 4664/2022. Investigation after investigation has been done but no one is coming forward for any action.
Western Forest Divisional Officer RN Mishra (DFO) was also questioned by a lagatar correspondent on October 22 regarding illegal mining in the Pankri-Barwadih Coal Project and violation of forest clearance conditions in an area of about 100 acres but he denied saying anything.
