KEONJHAR: The forest officials
seized
huge quantities of
stolen manganese
worth more than Rs 10 lakh from Thakurani reserve forest near Raika village under
Barbil
police station in Keonjhar district on Thursday. The department raided the area after a truck, carrying stolen manganese, was seized by Barbil police.
Assembly Election Results
The raid was undertaken by a squad, headed by assistant conservator of forests (ACF), Ajay Kumar Sahu, by the direction of Swayam Mallick, divisional forest officer (DFO), Keonjhar.
During the raid, the squad found huge quantities of
manganese
extracted illegally by destroying forests. The team also seized manganese packed in sacks to be smuggled outside, said Sahu.
Mallick said the quantities of manganese seized can be calculated after weighing by the mining department. “We are investigating the incident in detail to trace the mining mafia,” he said.
Despite unearthing of a huge mining scam and enforcement by district and state squads, mineral smuggling is going on in the area with impunity, said an official on condition of anonymity. The mineral mafia are extracting minerals from the forest areas and smuggling them to nearby Jharkhand. Due to the mineral smuggling, the government is losing crores of rupees in revenue, said an official.