Bhubaneswar: In a decisive move against illegal sand mining, the Odisha government has suspended two senior mining officers for their alleged complicity in widespread sand theft operations that caused substantial revenue losses to the state.
Steel and Mines Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena issued the suspension orders against Deputy Director of Mines (Jajpur Circle) Jay Prakash Nayak and Jagatsinghpur District Mining Officer Satish Kumar Tarai. The minister also reiterated the government’s zero-tolerance stance on illegal mining and vowed that the crackdown would continue, with stringent action against any other officials found aiding or abetting such activities.
The action followed recommendations by Jagatsinghpur Collector J Sonal after complaints of negligence and misconduct.
The officers were served show-cause notices on November 27 by the collector hours after a joint enforcement team’s late night raid at Kilipal quarry in Tirtol tehsil led to seizure of large numbers of excavators and earth moving equipment allegedly involved in illegal sand mining.
The raid exposed massive unauthorised sand extraction and multiple violations of OMMC Rules, 2023, causing a financial loss of Rs 15.28 crore to the state exchequer.
Police also registered a criminal case against the District Mining Officer and two leaseholders, Saroj Mohanty and Bansidhar Swain, based on a complaint lodged by Jagatsinghpur sub-collector Prasant Kumar Tarai following raids on two sand quarries—one at Kilipal in Tirtol tehsil and another at Jaipur on the Mahanadi riverbed in Raghunathpur.
The accused face charges under Sections 303(2), 112(2), and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as well as Section 51 of the Odisha Minor Mineral Concession Rules, for allegedly orchestrating large-scale illegal extraction from multiple sairat sources.
