Dankari Mining Loot - Another Mega Mining Scam in Odisha
Dankari Mining Loot- Another Mega Mining Scam
worth Rs. 15,000 crores perpetuated by BJD leaders and Govt. officials under
Nabin Patnaik Govt. in Odisha
1. 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. Sribash Jena , a
former Zilla Parishad of Biju Janata
Dal, ruling 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 since 2002 to 2017. He carried out wagon drill for
black stone mining quarry which caused
huge water and environment pollution
in the locality.
2. When
his illegal mining extraction was at peak stage,
Sarbeswar Behura, RTI Activist
from 2012 started filling
series of RTI Applications 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. On 4.7.16., Sri
Abhaya Nayak, Joint Secretary,
R&DM wrote a letter to the
Collector, Jajpur that
i.
Collector shall calculate
the royalty amount for the excess quantity 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. Then Sarbeswar Behuria
filed complaint in National Green Tribunal in July
2018 seeking inquiry into
illegal mining extraction and prayed
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 the order on 4.1.19 . The gist of the
order 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 .
15. In a dramatic move, Sri Sriash Jena
challenged the order of NGT in Supreme
Court and the Supreme Court has granted
stay order on 26.10.2018. The State Govt. maintains ominous silence in this matter without
challenging stay order in the Supreme Court.
Presented
in the Press Meet on Land Scam in Odisha held in Bhuaneswar on 4.11.20 by Pradip Pradhan,
Srikant Pakal, Debesh Dash, Sudhir Mohanty, Sanjukta Panigrahi, Sarbeswar
Behura, on behalf of Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan ) Contact No. -9937843482
