M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Aug 23: Palamu District Mining Officer Anand Kumar and SDO Sadar Rajesh Kumar Sah reached Karso village, 30 km away from Daltonganj, on Monday under the orders of Palamu DC Anjaneyulu Dodde to inquire into the impact of the stone mining going on there at a considerable distance away from the human habitation.
A group of organisations here had alleged adverse impact of the stone mining at Karso village like flying stones of as big a size as of a ‘quintal’ after the blasting of the hillock there. There were other complaints like a threat to the environment, death of a child purportedly by the impact of the stone mining etc.
Palamu DC Anjaneyulu Dodde asked the DMO and SDO Sadar to submit a ground report of the Karso village and the stone mining there.
The two officers met the locals at Karso village and tried to find out the impact of the stone mining going on there away from the village.
SDO Sadar Rajesh Kumar Sah was very reluctant to share their ground findings at Karso but when repeatedly asked for it by this correspondent, he said that there is nothing as such to say the stone mining has any adverse impact on the human habitation there. “It is far away from the human habitation,” he asserted.
As regards to stones flying and dropping there on the houses of the locals of the weight of ‘one quintal’, the SDO said, “No local there even spoke of one ‘gram’ of stone dropping on their houses. It is a figment of the imagination about the size and weight of the flying stone.”
About the threat to the environment, he said that mining operations and the environment are delicate issues and the two are always looked upon seriously by the authorities concerned. As regards the death of a child there purportedly by the impact of the stone mining, he said the locals denied it saying the child had another mishap that took his life.
Sources said a bunch of organisations here have been spearheading a campaign for the conservation and preservation of the hillocks from being ransacked for mining by the vested interest. Many hillocks here have their religiosity either by way of place of worship atop the hillock or by the religious flag on the top of it.
Sources said the National Green Tribunal has to intervene in one such hillock called Dhajawa Pahar where claims and counterclaims regarding mining there reached the NGT, forcing it to seek a detailed account of it from the Palamu DC.
