Dankari Mining Loot- Another
Mega Mining Scam worth Rs. 4000 crores perpetuated by BJD leaders and Govt.
officials under Nabin Patnaik Govt. in Odisha
This
is a glaring case of loot
of minerals engineered by
Nabin Patnaik, Chief Minister and
his Ministers MLAs causing
crores of rupees revenue loss
and protecting mining mafia
and erring officials.
1.
NGT Order – Eye Opener
The issue
of Dankari Mining
loot has come to
limelight after intervention and series of orders passed by National Green Tribunal following
complaint petition No. 604/2018
filed by Sarbeswar Behura ,
RTI Activist and
Member of Odisha soochana adhikar Abhijan. The gist of the order
of NGT dated 4.1.19 is as follows.
A. Chief
Secretary, Govt. of Odisha was directed to initiate appropriate departmental action for the misconduct of the officers involved
in permitting illegal black
stone quarrying as found by the inspection committee constituted
by NGT. Apart from such disciplinary action, the state has to recover the cost of illegally mined material, cost of damage to environment , Net present Value of ecological services foregone
as well as cost of
restoration of the environment.
B.The
State Govt. and statutory
authorities must anticipate, prevent and attack
the causes of environment
degradation and are accountable for inaction
as well as collusion.
C.To
uphold rule of law and accountability of those
who are trustees of
environment , the state
machinery is required to
compensate for their negligence and failure
which may act as deterrent
against the officers who neglected
their basic duty of protecting
the environment or colluded with the
polluters and law violators. This
is required as a part of principle
of “ polluter pays” which
applies not only to actual
polluters or enable pollution to be caused
and also for the negligence of
public duties , adversely
affecting the citizens.
D. The State Govt.
can not avoid the
responsibility for the
damage caused to the environment. Accordingly
, NGT held the
state Govt. to be liable
to deposit an interim compensation
of Rs. 25 crores which may
be deposited with the
Central Pollution Control Board
within one month, pending the final assessment on receipt of the report of the
committee being constituted. The State
Govt. has the liberty to recover
the amount from the erring
officers and the illegal
miners/ stone crushers . The amount
recovered will be utilized for restoration of environment
and for the welfare of
mine workers and local population
affected by diseases due to illegal mining.
E. NGT also
constituted a joint committee of
representatives of CPCB, Indian school of mines, Dhanabad, and Chairman,
State Environment Impact Assessment Authority ( SEIAA) to
make an assessment of the amount
of illegally mined materials , cost of damage to environment , net present
value of ecological services
foregone as well as cost
of restoration of the environment
and exemplary damages .
F. NGT has
fixed 6.5.19 for next
hearing of the case.
2.
Sequence of Struggle
of RTI Activist leading to
intervention of NGT
·
Dankari Hill forest
area , storehouse of blackstone
mines comes under
jurisdiction of Dharmashala
Tahsil of Jajpur district, Odisha. This area, habitation of 700 population
of Dankari village under Mahisara
Gram Panchayat is 15 kms away
from Dharmashala Tahsil. Sribasa Jena , a former
Zilla Parishad of Biju Janata Dal,
rulling party , highly
politically influential person
closely connected to local MLA
and state power corridor undertook
illegal mining operation I,e, extraction of
black stone mines in Dankari
Hill with complete
support from district
administration in 2002. He carried out
wagon drill for black stone mining quarry which caused huge
water and environment pollution
in the locality.
·
When his illegal
mining extraction was at peak stage, Sarbeswar Behura, RTI Activist from 2012 started
filling series of RTI Application
to different offices including office of Tahasil, Dharmashala,
Collector, Jajpur and Deputy Director, Mines, Jajpur Road seeking
information about details of lease
granted , area covered, copy of
environment clearance , details of
royalty paid etc. The
information provided by
different offices exposed
about mining operation
without valid lease and
environment clearance. Then , Sarbeswar
filed series of complaints to
different authorities with
prayer to stop illegal
mining operation in Dankari
Hill. But due to political pressure, no
authority did take any
action against the illegal miner.
·
Then,
in 2014, he filed a PIL case
in Odisha High Court seeking direction of the court
to stop illegal mining
operation in Dankari Hill.
But he could not get appropriate order
from the court. In the meantime , in 2015, 30 to 40
villagers died of kidney
damage, liver problem and
other diseases due to huge
water and environment pollution. A large number
of villagers are also
found suffering from various
diseases due to pollution generated from illegal
mining operation.
·
Then,
Sarbeswar filed complaint case No. 4323/15
in Odisha Human Rights Commission
on 30.11.15 seeking direction for inquiry
into illegal mining operation
and to check health hazard
in the area. OHRC issued direction to Satya Mallik, the then
Collector, Jajpur to conduct inquiry
and take action accordingly.
·
The Collector
in his letter No. 3408 dated
27.11.15 ordered for closure of operation of illegal mining in
Dankari Hill. On 13.12.15, he
also wrote letter to Deputy Director, Mines, Jajpur Road to quantify
total amount of Black stone mines
extracted from the Hill .
In response to letter of the Collector, the Deputy Director, mines,
Jajpur Road submitted a report dt. 18.3.16 to the
Collector in which he has
mentioned that total quantity of 73, 38, 012.5 cum has been illegally extracted
by the Mining operator.
·
On 10.5.16, the
Collector, Jajpur wrote a letter
to Secretary , Revenue and Disaster Management informing about illegal
mining operation in Dankari Hill
, loss of royalty due to illegal mining operation and suggested for a state squard to make an assessment of damage
done /loss of revenue sustained to state government.
·
On 18.5.16, the
Collector wrote a letter
to Tahasildar attaching report
of Deputy Director, Mines, Jajpur
Road to quantify revenue
loss of amount of
black stone mines extracted by deducting
the royalty paid by the mining operator. The Tahasildar
calculated details of royalty amount deposited by Sribasa Jena against
mining extracted to the tune of 14,15,596 cum and compare
it with figure of total amount of mining extracted as per report of Deputy Director, Mines. The
Tahasildar wrote a letter to Sribasa Jena, Mining operator about
extraction of excess amount of mining
69,22, 016 cum against
which royalty amount
Rs. 58, 62, 79, 633.00 to be
deposited with copy
marked to Collector.
·
On
8.6.16, Sribasa Jena challenged the order
of Tahasildar in Odisha High Court and
got stay order. On 28.9.16, the
High Court ordered
for fresh inquiry and provide reasonable
opportunity to Sribasa Jena
of being heard prior to taking any decision
about fixation of royalty.
·
On 21.6.16, Mr. Deepak Mohanty, Director,
Mines wrote a letter to the Collector, Jajpur to constitute a committee comprising the revenue, Mining and police officials for
getting reassessment done with the assistance of State level Enforcement
squad of this directorate.
·
On 4.7.16., Sri Abhaya
Nayak, Joint Secretary, R7DM wrote a letter to the
Collector, Jajpur that
i. Collector shall
calculate the royalty amount
for the excessquantity of black
stone extracted by the lessee and issue demand notice
to Sri Sribasa Jena , the lessee
and recover the same immediately.
ii. Penalty may
also be levied for the illegal
extraction of the minerals
from the sources.
iii. Total
extent of revenue loss and excess
lifting should be assessed by
the joint team comprising
officers of Mines and Revenue administration, constituted Collector, Jajpur.
iv. Collector should file FIR for the theft
of black stone to the extent excess than
the allotted quantity.
v. Collector may initiate
disciplinary proceedings against
the concerned R.I.s and recommend with memo of evidence for drawal of proceedings against Tahasildars and other
higher authorities.
vi. On
the basis of the facts reported
and theft done in violation of the lease conditions, the lease agreement
, if in force any, should be terminated
by the Collector following due
procedure of law.
vii. Immediate steps
should be taken for fresh
auction of the source, as per revised OMMC Rules.
·
Following
order of Department of Revenue
and Disaster Management dated 4.7.16, the Additional district Magistrate ( ADM), Jajpur dt. 23.8.16 submitted
to the Collector, Jajpur framing the memorandum of evidence
for drawal of proceedings
under Rule-15
of the Orissa Civil Services (
Classification, Control and Appeal )
Rules, 1962 against the 10 erring Revenue
Inspectors of Dankari R.I. Circle
under Dharmashala Tahsil in
connection with the illegal
extraction of Black stone from Dankari
Black stone quarry and loss of
revenue incurred during their incumbency
as Revenue Inspectors. The
Revenue Inspectors were
directed to submit their written
statement of defence within 30
days from the date of receipt of memorandum and also to state if they
desire to be heard in person.
·
On 6.8.16., the ADM
submitted to Revenue and Disaster
Management the draft proceedings against the 10 erring
Tahasildars of Dharmashala in connection with the illegal extraction of Black stone from Dankari
Black stone quarry and loss of
revenue incurred during their incumbency
as Tahasildars. The Tahasildars
were directed to submit their written statement of
defence within 30 days from the date
of receipt of memorandum and also
to state if they desire
to be heard in person.
·
Similarly,
on 11.8.16, the ADM submitted
to Revenue and Disaster Management
the draft proceedings against the 6 erring Sub-Collectors in
connection with the illegal
extraction of Black stone from Dankari
Black stone quarry and loss of
revenue incurred during their incumbency
as Sub-Collectors. The Sub-Collectors were directed
to submit their written statement of defence within 30 days from the date
of receipt of memorandum and also
to state if they desire
to be heard in person.
Though notice
for disciplinary proceedings
was issued to 10
Revenue Inspectors, 10 Tahasildars and
6 Sub-Collectors, it was
kept pending for years together. No action was taken against
erring officials till yet. These officials
were protected by the State Government, political leaders , local MLA and
others.
·
Then Sarbeswar
Behuria filed complaint
to NGT IN July
2018 seeking inquiry into
illegal mining extraction and played
for action against the officials.
After registering the
Complaint No. 604/2018, NGT has ordered
dated 31.8.18. to the Secretary,
Department of Forest to constitute a team
with representatives from SPCB,
Sate Level environment Impact Assessment Authority 9SEIAA), Odisha and
Collector, jajpur and a representative from forest department and to
furnish an action taken report. The Forest
Dept. submitted the report to NGT
on 7.12.18. Following which
the NGT passed above-mentioned
order .
3.
Harassment of Sarbeswar Behura
While taking up this issue , Sarbeswar has faced a
lot of difficulties . He has been
attached by the goons
several times and threatened of
attack and murder. Five number of false cases have been
filed against him in local police
station. His home was broken down and set fire by miscreants.
NGT order is
one step forward not only to
stop mining loot
but also to recover
loot amount from the illegal miner and officials
responsible for it.
Prepared by
Pradip Pradhan
with support from Sarbeswar Behura
RTI Activist
State Convener, Odisha Soochana adhikar Abhijan (
OSAA)
M-9937843482
Date- 30.1.19
