Stone quarries on Ranchi outskirts face police heat

Ranchi:

Police

have dismantled at least 10 illegal stone crushers operating in Chutupalu and Khirabera areas of Ormanjhi in Ranchi district. FIRs were also lodged against 24 people after the

raid

on Saturday and one of them was arrested on Sunday evening. Many of those who were named in the FIRs have earlier complaints filed against them.

Ormanjhi police station inspector Santosh Kumar said, “Raids are on to nab the remaining people involved in illegal stone crushing activities in the area.”

TOI on Sunday visited the quarries near Garkhatanga along the Ranchi ring road, Kochbong and Lal Khatang areas along the Ranchi-Khunti bypass and found many of them abandoned. The quarries were spread across vast patches of plateau, from where stones have either already been excavated or people were found manually breaking stones in the pits.

TOI attempted to speak to some of the local villagers, most of whom are tribals, but they refused to comment on the illegal yet flourishing mining activities.

Illegal stone mining is rampant in the state, especially in

Hazaribag

and

Koderma

districts.