Panel to probe illegal mining of morrum

CUTTACK:  A four-member committee formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) will probe into alleged illegal mining of morrum and soil, and indiscriminate felling of trees in Parjang and Kamakhyanagar tehsils of Dhenkanal district.

The NGT’s east zone bench comprising B Amit Sthalekar (Judicial Member) and Saibal Dasgupta (Expert Member)  constituted the high-level committee on Wednesday on a petition filed by Santanu Kumar Bhukta, a social worker of Talcher.

The committee consists of Dhenkanal Collector, Divisional Forest Officer, Member Secretary of State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and senior scientist of Integrated Regional Office of MoEF&CC, Bhubaneswar. The committee has been asked to submit its report within four weeks or before the next date on July 6.

Bhukta alleged that illegal mining by a private party is going on by felling big sal trees from forest land without forest or environment clearance. No action has been taken by the district administration and DFO despite repeated complaints. The tehsildar has only collected the royalty and penalty without taking any deterrent action like criminal prosecution to prevent further illegal mining, he alleged.