Arang: In New Raipur, the mineral mafia has experienced a new high, with people converting flat lands into deep, dug-up treacherous depressions within days. Indeed, the citizens are all the more surprised to see that by the evening, 10 to 12-foot-deep trenches are dug where they expect the surface to be, even at the very least. Deep ravines have developed a tell-tale sign of rampant illegal mining in most of the surrounding area. With several tens of chain mounting machines and hundreds of strong trucks, it has been said that the mafia has brought a loss of a percentage of billions of rupees to the New Raipur Development Authority (NRDA).
The new Raipur, formally called Atal Nagar, is a vision project for Chhattisgarh that aspires to transform the area into a global city. The state government has earmarked about 27 villages, each of private and government agricultural land, from the development blocks of Arang and Abhanpur to NRDA for this purpose. The NRDA was particularly created to spearhead the construction of this city, which will host all departmental headquarters, chief ministers’ residences, IAS/IPS quarters, and institutions such as a railway terminal, stadium, and business complex.
But in the past few months, there have been more cases of illegitimate digging operations, mainly because there has been no concrete action taken in the last three to four years. A brief analysis of loss in merely five villages gives a picture of the total loss in millions of rupees for the government. If all twenty-seven villages are to be rated, the loss could quickly rise to tens of billions of shillings.
Some opinions of the local village leaders are Bhuinesh Yadav, Sarpanch – Nawagaon, and Chandravijay Markande – Sarpanch Riko. They have provided this ministry with photo-documentary evidence and claim to have been reporting these illicit activities by phone and writing to the mineral department and NRDA. The Sarpanch Association has lodged group complaints too, but the poor have rarely found any respite.
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