Administration mulls blocking more exit points in Kaimur hills

SASARAM: The attack on Rohtas DFO and forest guards on Sunday by members of stone mining mafia has forced the district administration to think about blocking more exit points in the hill areas to stop illegal quarrying.
Assistant mines and geological officer of Rohtas, Sunil Paswan, on Monday said there were reports of illegal mining in the Kaimur hills despite several measures taken in the last more than one year and his department conducting raids from time to time to check it.He also said the administration was toying with the idea of blocking more exit points leading to the quarrying area in the hills through explosion. Rohtas DM Pankaj Dixit, in a meeting last week, had directed the officials concerned to take all possible steps to check mining in the hills.
Rohtas DFO P Gaurav, who escaped unhurt in the Sunday attack, said the stone mafia members damage the wire fencing done by the forest department around the quarrying area. “So, we have decided to make foolproof strategy to check illegal mining,” he said.
The state government in 2009 had decided not to renew the licences issued for stone mining. The licences relating to the mining in an area of 70 acres in the Kaimur hills had expired in May 2009.
The much publicized operation was conducted in the Kaimur hills in February last year after chief minister Nitish Kumar had publicly expressed concern over the stone mining despite ban and involvement of government officials in the illegal trade. The CM had expressed concern during his visit to the district as part of his ‘Nishchay Yatra’ in December 2016.
Spurred by the CM’s indignation, the then chief secretary had convened a meeting of the principal secretary (mines and minerals) and the DGP besides the DMs and SPs of Rohtas and Kaimur the same day. It was decided to create trenches up to 40ft deep and 20ft wide in the lanes and bylanes being used to transport illegally mined stone chips out of the Kaimur hills area.
Tenders were invited in April 2017 for creating the trenches through explosions, which were carried out in February last year. The operation had taken two months and additional police forces from neighbouring Kaimur, Bhojpur and Buxar districts were requisitioned as precautionary measures. Additionally, the forest department fenced the mining area. The then DM, Animesh Parashar, had described it as a foolproof option for checking stone quarrying in the hills.
However, locals said stone quarrying resumed only weeks later. The forest department also confirmed continued seizure of stone-laden trucks despite the trenches. “We cannot immediately give the exact number of trucks seized … It must be over a hundred,” district forest ranger S Sharma told this correspondent. The sources from mining department said some trenches were filled up.