Ramgad village 'dressed up' for CEC visit

Officers of Revenue, Forest and Mines and Geology Departments and police are camping at the village to ‘familiarise’ themselves with the area.

Deputy Commissioner Amlan Aditya Biswas conducted a meeting till 11.30 pm on Monday and visited the Ramgad forest with Sandur Tahsildar and other officers on Tuesday.

It is learnt that the officers do not want to be caught off guard on queries from the CEC members about the forest, hence the frequent visits.

Ashok Basarakoda, who recently assumed charge as the Deputy Conservator of Forests is also studying the entire mining area which is a treasurehouse of the finest mines and the endangered forest.

“The sound of explosives going off in the mining area and the frequent moving of ore-laden lorries had disturbed our life here. But now it appears to be a calm village,” said the villagers.

They are surprised at the sudden visits of government officers who had never visited them earlier.

Most of the officers including the DC, who assumed the office recently, seem to have taken the CEC visit seriously.

“It was inevitable for us to move the court on illegal mining as no official responded to the repeated complaints. Now, that the Apex Court has directed the CEC to visit  Ramgad, the officials seem to have woken up from their deep slumber,” said S R Hiremutt of the Samaja Parivarthana Samsthe.