History of Dankari Black stone Loot in Odisha

 

History of Illegal excavation of Blackstone quarry  in Dankari Hill under  Dharmashala Tahasil of Jajpur district, Odisha

1.    Dankari Black stone quarry was created with an area Ac 41.50 out of Ac 773.60 plot No. 600, Khata No. 221 of Village Dankari and leased out in favour of  Sribash Jena , Village-saroi, PS-Dharmashala  Dist-Jajpur  for a period of three Years  through short  term lease  from 1.11.2002 to 31.10.2005.

2.    This was renewed for a period of another 3 years  from 1.11.2005 to 31.10.2008  and also further renewed from 1.11.2008 to 31.10.2011.

3.    During  this period , the lease holder extracted huge blackstone illegally  beyond lease area and cause huge revenue loss  to  the state exchequer  which  was  covered  by media  during  that time.  Though  the local people made  complaint, no action was taken  as he enjoys political patronage  of Ruling Biju Janata Dal party.

4.    However, after expiry of lease  period, the lease holder Sribash Jena  again applied before Tahasildar , dharmashala  for  renewal of  the lease of Dankari  Blackstone quarry  for a period of another  three  years. Tahasildar, Dharmashala reject his application in pursuant to the circular No. 1470 dt. 9.9.2008 of Board of Revenue, Cuttack. He advised to Sribash Jena to participate in public auction for lease and gave him rejection letter.

5.    Being aggrieved by the order of Tahasildar dt. 15.7.2011, Sri Sribash Jena filed writ petition bearing No.  W.P.(C) 20799/2011 challenging the circular No. 1470 dt. 6.9.2008 of the Member of Board of Revenue, Odisha, Cuttack.

6.    After hearing the matter, the hon’ble High Court passed the judgement on 28.3.2012. As per High Court order, the Tahasildar, Dharmashala recommended the said case record to the Sub-Collector, Jajpur on 9.4. 2012.The Sub-Collector, Jajpur approved the same and the source was settled through auction. It was not finalized and postponed due to another writ petition bearing No. W.P. (C) No. 9876/2012   filed by Niranjan Behera.

7.    Being aggrieved, Sribash Jena filed another Writ Petition bearing No.  W.P. (C ) No. 10886/2012 in High Court . the Hon’ble Court disposed of the case on  3.10.2012.

8.    Finally, the Dankari Blackstone Quarry  was settled in favour of  the petitioner  on long term basis  for a period of  five years  by virtue  of  order passed by Hon’ble High Court  subject to compliation  of Environment clearance.

9.    As per order  of High Court,  Sribash Jena  obtained  the  consent to established  from the State Pollution Control Board  vide letter No. 3617 dt. 26.11.12. Then the  Competent  authority entered  into an agreement with Sribash Jena  on 5.12.2012.

10. But  as per  order  of  High Court, he  neither  obtained Environment  clearance nor Consent to Operate  from the  Competent authority. After getting  agreement signed, he started   blackstone quarry  in the  leased area  illegally.  Lakhs of  tons of  Blackstone  was  extracted  causing  huge  loss  of crores  of rupees  to the State  Exchequer.

11. In 2014, Sri Sarbeswar Behura ,  local RTI Activist , after  obtaining  all the  information  under RTI exposed  operation of illegal blackstone quarry  publicly  and demanded  inquiry into it. The Media  covered  the news  about  illegal quarry  being  operated  in Dankari Hill   in the knowledge  of the  Tahsildar and  District administration.

12.Then,  the Regional Officer, State Pollution Control Board,  Kalinganagar  vide letter No.  3349 dated  26.11.2015  directed  Tahasildar Dharmashala  to  stop illegal  blackstone quarry.  The Tahasildar vide letter no. 3408 dt. 27.11.2015  direcetd  Sribash Jena  to stop illegal mining activities in Dankari. But Srbash Jena  who was enjoying  political patronage  continued  illegal mining activities.

13.In the meantime ,  the OMMC ( Amendment) Rule , 2016  came into force  on 14^th December, 2016 . Sribash Jena  who was  undertaking illegal mining activity  having unholy alliance with  Revenue Officials and local MLA   played  another trick  of prepared  mining  plan of  the Dankari Blackstone quarry  and  the approved  mining plan  with requisite fees  was submitted  before  the State  Environment  Assessment Authority  by the Tahasildar , dharmashala  on 22.1.2016  for issuance  of environment  clearance.

14. However, sarbeswar Behura, RTI Activist continued   exposing huge extraction of blackstone from illegal quarry and highlighted it in the media demanding immediate action against Sribash Jena. The local people also joined with Sarbeswar Behura and demanded an inquiry into illegal quarry and amount of loss to the State   exchequer.

15.On receipt of allegation petitions  from the  local people, the  administration  was forced  to conduct an inquiry. The Collector, SP, Sub-Collector, Jajpur  and other related  officials  visited Dankari  Black stone quarry  and found that  blackstone was  unevenly extracted  and quarry was put  to operation  in an unscientific manner  by Sribash Jena. According  the Collector, Jajpur submitted  the report to the Government  vide letter  No. 129 dt. 10.5.2016.

16. The  Collector, Jajpur vide letter No.  5547  dt. 3.12.2015  directed  the Deputy Director  of Mines, Jajpur Road  to make an assessment  about the total quantum  of blackstone  extracted  from quarry  over  the years  from 2013-14 to 2015-16.

17. The Deputy Director of mines  vide letter No. 514 dt. 15.3.2016  submitted  a detailed report  along with  calculation  sheet  with cross sectional plan  in graphic sheet  and GPs  coordination  of the quarry area  in the graphic map  and thereby  calculated  that  volume of stones extracted  has been computed  to the  tune of  7, 33,81,012 Cum  has been extracted  from Dankari Blackstone quarry  from 2002-03 to 2015.

18.The  Tahasildar, dharmashala vide letter no. 1584 dt. 7.5.2016  reported  that  Sribash Jena has  lifted  14,15,596 Cum of blackstone  from the sources  from 2002 to till 27.11.2015 and deposited  an amount of Rs. 6,64,89,908.00  towards royalty  and Govt. dues.

19.Thus  there is huge gap  between realization of Royalty  and extraction of Blackstone  from the quarry which leads to misappropriation of royalty  by Sribash Jena  and huge loss  to the state  exchequer.

20. The Collector , Jajpur  vide letter No. 2262 dt. 18.5.2016  instructed  the Tahasildar , Dharmashala  to realise  the differential royalty  from the petitioner  for extraction of excess  blackstone  from Dankari Blackstone quarry.

21. The Tahasildar issued  demand notice  vide  letter no. 1878 dt. 28.5.2016  to Sribash Jena  to deposit  the  differential amount  of Rs. 58,62,79,633.00. Being aggrieved,  Sribash Jena  filed  a W.P. ( C )  No. 9885/2016  before  Orissa High Court  challenging  demand notice  issued by  the Tahasildar  for  realization of   differential amount.

22.The Hon’ble High Court  in their order dt. 28.9.2016   quashed  the  order of Tahasildar  and  directed  to pass  fresh order  in accordance with  law  after giving  opportunity  of hearing  to the  petitioner.

23. As per  order  of High Court, Tahasildar, Dharmashala  conducted  hearing of the case  on 6.1.2017  in the presence  of all the  parties  including  Sribash Jena  and it was  decided  to reassess  the quantity  of extraction  of blackstone  from 2002 to 2015  by  the Expert Team  of Deputy Director Mines , jajpur  in a survey  through scientific way.  The Deputy  Director  of Mines  vide letter no. 1763 dt. 20.9.17  expressed  his inability  to conduct  the survey  due  to non-availability  of  scientific equipment.

24.Then,  the Director  of mines , Bhubaneswar  was requested  vide District office letter No. 3185 dt. 29.11.2017  for reassessment  of the Minor mineral extracted from Dankari Black Stone quarry  and damage done/ loss of revenue  to Govt. exchequer.  But  no reassement  was done  by  Director of Mines. Sribash Jena  continued  to extract  blackstone  illegally. 

25.It  is very  interesting  to note  here that  the  Forest and Environment Dept., Government  of Odisha  vide letter No.  4363  dt. 2.3.2017  instructed  the Collector, Jajpur  to file case  against  the lease holder Sribash Jena  under section 15 and 19 of Environment Protection Act, 1986 for  extraction of minor minerals from  from Dankari Blackstone quarry without obtaining environment clearance.

26. Despite  several  orders, the District administration did  not  take  any action  against Sribash Jena  and rather allowed  him to  loot  blackstone.

27.Astonishingly , expressing  their  helplessness  before mighty Sribash Jena , the  whole district administration to save  their  face  filed  a case  bearing No. 2 ( C )  C.C No. 05/2017  in the  court  of JMFC , Chandikhole  against Sribash Jena  for  violating  the  provision of  EP Act, 1986.   As usual and as predicted ,  this case  is still  sub-judice  in the  court  of JMFC, Chandikhole.  The District administration did not  pursue  the case  just to allow Sribash Jena  to  continue his loot of blackstone on his own wish. It is alleged that all the district officials were bribed huge money for it.

28.  Having visualized visible nexus  of the whole  district administration with Sribash Jena,  Sri Sarbeswar Bhura  filed  a complaint  case  O.A. bearing No. 604/2018  before  National Green tribunal seeking an inquiry  into  illegal  operation  of mining activity  in 41.50 acres of forest land in  Dankari Hill.

29. On 31.8.2018, the Hon’ble NGT passed order  directing  the Secretary, dept. of Forest and Environment , Govt. of odisha  to constitute  a joint  inspection team  with representative  of State Pollution Control Board,  SEIAA Odisha,  Collector, Jajpur  to ascertain the facts  by visiting the site  and take appropriate steps  within one month.

30. As  per  recommendation of Joint enquiry  team,  the  Director, Environment -cum-Special secretary, department  of Forest and Environment  instructed  to the Collector, Jajpur to cancel  Environment  Clearance issued  by DEIAA, Jajpur.

31.On 12.10.2018, the Collector, Jajpur  revoked  all the environment  clearance issued in favour of  the lessee  of Dankari hill area.

32. After  obtaining  joint enquiry  report,  the Hon’ble NGT , New Delhi  in its order dt. 4.1.2019  directed  to the State Government  to deposit an interim compensation  of Rs. 25 crore  with Central pollution Control Board  within one month pending  for final assessment  conducted  by the joint committee  consisting of representative of CPCB,  Indian School of Mines, Dhanabad,  Forest Research Institute , Dehradun,  Chairman, SIEAA.

33.This  order  of NGT could not  be carried  out  because  prior  to it,  Sribash Jena  challenged  it  in Supreme Court vide  Civil Appeal No. 10113/2018  and got  a stary  order  on 26.10.2018.

34.On 19.3.2024,  the Hon’ble Supreme Court  vacated  the  stay  order and remanded  back  the  case  for fresh consideration by the  Hon’ble NGT, New Delhi.

35. As per SC order, The Original Application No. 604/2018 ( sarbeswar Behura vs Union of India and others )  was  heard  by NGT, New Delhi on 16.5.2024  and all the  opposite parties were  directed  to file  their submission before 20^th August, 2024.

36.The next date  for  hearing  of the case  is fixed  on 29.11.24

37.The Case  was  heard  in NGT and  another  date  was  fixed  for  hearing  in the  month  of February, 25 , as the  Govt. sought more  time  to  submit   response.

 

By sarbeswar Behura

Petitioner