Now sand mafia target Jajpur Tehsildar

Besides threatening the Tehsildar with dire consequences, the smugglers forcibly took away seized sand-laden trucks
Now sand mafia target Jajpur Tehsildar

JAIPUR: Even as mysterious death of Jajpur Town Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Manoj Kumar Behera has brought to fore rampant smuggling of minerals in the district, Jajpur Tehsildar received threat from two sand smugglers on Tuesday which exposed how brazen illegal mining has become.
Besides threatening Jajpur Tehsildar Laxmikanta Mishra with dire consequences, the two even forcibly took away two sand-laden trucks which he had seized. 

Following the incident, Mishra lodged an FIR with Panikoili police. According to the complaint, on direction of Collector Ranjan Kumar Das, the Tehsildar accompanied by the local Revenue Inspector (RI) went to Madhapur area on Jajpur-Sathipur road to inspect lifting of sand from Baitarani river.
The Collector, during his return to the district headquarters town from Vyas Nagar, had found trucks overloaded with sand on Jajpur-Sathipur road. “The Collector directed me to carry out inspection of the vehicles lifting sand from the river bed,” Mishra said.

During inspection of the sand-laden trucks, the team found the two vehicles which did not possess the mandatory R form for carrying sand. “As the vehicles lacked requisite papers, we seized the trucks. However, two miscreants reached the spot in an SUV and abused us. They even threatened to run me over by a truck,” the Tehsildar stated in his complaint.Later, the duo forcibly snatched the keys of the seized trucks from the Revenue team and fled. The accused have been identified as Pratyush Kumar Kar and Ranjit Kumar Sahoo.

Contacted, Panikoili IIC Sarat Kumar Patra said a case has been registered against the duo who are on the run following the incident. Further investigation is on and efforts are on to nab them, he added.On Sunday night, RTO Behera was crushed to death by an overloaded chips-laden truck on NH- 215 near Nuapada Chowk while inspecting vehicles carrying smuggled minerals. It is suspected that mining mafia had a role in the RTO’s death even as police are still clueless about the incident.Tuesday’s incident is a glaring example of the rising clout of mafia in the district with the police turning a mute spectator. With the mafia getting an upper hand over law enforcement authorities, Government officials and general public are living in a state of panic.

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