LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Dumka, June 16: With the district administration having taken tough stand against the illegal stone quarries and crusher plants, a delegation of stone traders belonging to Sarasdangal and adjoining pockets of Shikaripara block area of Dumka called on the local JMM MLA Nalin Soren at his Kathikund based residence to register their grievances.
The delegation claimed that the district administration was offensive against them to seal their units despite having procured the mining leases and licenses for operating the stone quarries and crusher plants
“We are being treated at par with those who are involved in illegal practices to run their stone quarries and crusher plants by obliging the administrative stakeholders,” rued the delegation members adding that the recent administrative move have proved detrimental to the interests of local workers having lost their job opportunities.
Illegal stone quarries and crusher units have alarmingly mushroomed in Shikaripara and adjoining blocks of the district in course of time as the number of legal units have considerably decreased thereby causing severe threat to the local flora and fauna and also to the state’s revenue.
“A delegation of the stone industry operators claimed to have been victimised by the ongoing administrative crackdown against illegal mining,” the JMM MLA said adding that he would take up the issue with the CM and the local authorities only after receiving a formal representation.
He also said that he would take up the matter before the chief minister and the district administration only after assessing the genuineness of their claim of having following the norms.
The district mining officer (DMO) Krishna Kumar Kisku on the other hand denied the ongoing crackdown against the mining industry in Shikaripara and elsewhere in the district being indiscriminate anyway.
“Notices were earlier issued for winding up the stone quarries and crusher plants situating in the proposed coal block awarded to different companies for coal exploration,” Kisku said adding that sealing the legal stone quarries and crusher plants in the proposed coal blocks did not have any connection with the ongoing drive against the illegal miners.
DMO, however, admitted that the there were also such instances of the leases having explored the stones from beyond the lease area as found during measurement of the stone quarries.
“In such cases, FIRs are being lodged against the violators irrespective of them having procured the mining leases and licenses to run the stone quarries and crusher plants” DMO reiterated.
