By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/KOIDA/BARBIL: The Sidhamata and Thakurani reserve forests under Barbil Range of Keonjhar Forest Division, gradually turning into a safe haven for mines mafias as well as illegal mine owners working under Joda-Koida mining circles of Odisha. The recent seizer of valuable manganese, ore, iron under these above mentioned forests reserves, was a tip of an iceberg but a coordinated network has been going on between mine owners and mines mafias with help from local mining and forest officials, sources revealed
“After Swayam Mallick joined as DFO Keonjhar, he stepped up raids and searches in forest areas but mines mafias and lease holders are so powerful that, they even constructed roads to loot minerals from Odisha to Jharkhand and then shipped it to foreign countries through Haldia Port in Kolkata in West Bengal,” sources said in Bhubaneswar. Few days back, Barbil forest officials have seized high grade manganese ore from the Sidhamath Reserve forest,which approximate value will be more than Rs 8 lakh. Before that, the Barbil police had seized a truck carrying about 30 mt lof high grade manganese.
Sources said soon after Keonjhar DFO came to know , he withdrew Murga Mahadev forest gate near border State which was allegedly a centre of all illegal activities. Theft of valuable manganese ore is going unabated in Keonjhar district and no visible action is taken by the authorities to rein in the mafias.
Earlier, Barbil police had seized a truck No. UP – 65 FT carrying about 30 mt of high grade manganese ore from Thankurari reserve forest under Barbil forest section. The value of the seized material was estimated to be more than Rs 1,80,000 at the present market value. The truck had a plan to go outside the State through Bileipada situated near the border of neighboring Jharkhand. Sources revealed that a racket of manganese theft is working in connivance with some venal forest officials, staff of private security agency and local people of nearby mining village of Railka.
Mines mafias constructed motorable road in Keonjhar’s Thakurani reserve forest, which was being used by mining mafia from Jharkhand to smuggle manganese ore to Haldia port to be exported..Thakurani reserve forest, a part of under Barbil forest range, is spread over 4455.30 hectare which has huge deposits of high grade manganese ore. Local villagers allege that such manganese loaded trucks pass through Kalapahad and Bileipada road before entering Jharkhand via Noamundi area.
Thereafter, the ore are exported to foreign countries via Haldia port, prima facie enquiry has revealed. Locals also point at forest staff involvement in the racket. “After availability of the DGPS map, a joint inspection of the area shall be undertaken by forest and mines department to ascertain the actual location of the manganese mine, its size and the volume of minerals raised so far,” locals in Joda-Barbil said.
Regularly vehicles carrying illegal manganese and iron are being seized by police and forest staffs and this shows that mineral smuggling has not stopped in the area. The present system only tracks mineral transportation from operating mines through i3MS and GPS. But mineral theft and smuggling from the abandoned mines, crushers and non leased forest areas continue by mining mafias to neighboring Jharkhand in many unguarded village and forest roads on the state boarder inspite of laws for prevention of mineral theft.
With the hike in price of iron and manganese, the smugglers find it profitable to use four wheelers to transport minerals safely in small quantities without being noticed. Even transport through railways also creates scope for transport of excess materials to destinations by manipulating the weight in wagons.
The iron and steel industries are the only end users of these minerals. Hence a backward verification of minerals quantity purchased by iron and steel industries from mines and exporters including quantity of minerals transported through road, rail and ship will unearth huge scams in the ongoing illegal mineral trade, sources added.
