Kendrapada: Forest officials seized nearly one tonne of semi-precious green stones worth around Rs 2 lakh, used for ornamental and decorative purposes, from Raighati village under Tomka forest range in Jajpur district on Sunday night and arrested four alleged smugglers, including a Rajasthan-based precious stone trader.Assistant conservator of forests (ACF), Tomka range, Kishor Kumar Panigrahi said they raided a van loaded with green stones following a tip-off and arrested Kuldeep Singh Yadav (40) of Rajasthan, Budharaja Babu (37) of Bargarh, and Indrajit Munda (34) and Deben Munda (32) of Raighati village.He said extracting green stones without govt permission is illegal. These stones, found in certain forest pockets of the district, are often dug out secretly by locals and sold to traders. The stones are then transported to Rajasthan, Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat and other states, where they fetch exorbitant prices. Yadav, the Rajasthan trader, is believed to be the kingpin of the racket and had engaged several locals to dig out the stones, Panigrahi added.All four accused have been booked under Sections 27 and 56 of the Odisha Forest Act, 1972, and Sections 4 and 12 of the Odisha Timber and Other Forest Produce Transit Rules, 1980, the forest officer said.Illegal extraction of precious stones has long been reported from forested pockets of Jajpur district, where smugglers continue to unearth valuable stones while evading the forest department. “These stones are smuggled out of the forests and sold at a premium in Rajasthan, Gujarat and other states,” said Ramani Ranjan Behera, a retired school teacher from Tamaka.Residents allege that venal officials have turned a blind eye, allowing influential groups to quarry green stones for years. With demand rising, illegal mining activity has increased significantly in Jajpur and adjoining areas, said Nalinikanta Behera, a local social worker.“Since green-stone quarrying requires no investment and brings only profit, many continue to mint money at the cost of the environment and the lives of poor labourers. It is unfortunate that authorities have not acted against these quarry mafias despite villagers risking their lives to dig out stones,” Behera added.
