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All to keep trucks out of sight!

Satyasundar Barik

Keonjhar district bans movement of trucks during day time to check pollution

Logjam: Hundreds of trucks are parked along NH-215 causing inconvenience to people in Keonjhar district.

Keonjhar: Teachers at Greenfield School of Keonjhar district these days don’t stick to time table. Be it 10 am or 2 pm, the moment school buses arrive carrying kids, classes get under way.

To cover 20-kilometre distance, school buses depend on mercy of thousands of trucks and traffic obstructions arising out of their presence along the National Highway 215.

Nowhere in India has truck traffic been prohibited from 8 am to 8 pm as in Keonjhar. The district administration evolved this novel idea to overcome the nuisance in 2004.

If trucks are allowed to move during daytime, they would throw life out of gear in no time.

People in this mineral rich district have completely rescheduled their lives keeping movement of trucks in mind. While maximum precautions are taken not to keep marriages during evening, people make sure they reach home before 8 pm.

Everyday about 25,000 trucks carrying thousands of tonnes of iron ore from mines scattered all over the district traverse 200 km to the Paradip port from where the raw material is exported to far-away countries like China, Japan and Bulgaria.

As many as 76 mines mostly iron and manganese are being operated in the district. "It seems to be a curse of having a vast stretches of mineral bearing land in the district. While less than one per cent of the district’s population is getting benefited out of the trade, the hunger for this mineral on part of a few has made life hell for the rest," said Bhagirathi Mohanta, President of Keonjhar Citizens’ Forum.

Natural resource as a whole was under severe pressure due to ore extraction in the district and to make matter worse, trucks’ movement turned the highway to a virtual death trap, he said. Hundreds of persons die on this highway every year after the phenomenon took place. Habitats of hundreds of elephants have been lost due to intense mining.

"Our school children have developed respiratory problems coming in contact with dusts during their daily travel. Moreover, they face uncertain time due to the traffic," said Prasanth Nair, Principal of Greenfield School.

Children have already drawn attention of President APJ Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on the issue but their efforts had gone in vain.

The economy of iron ore export tilts heavily in favour of mine owners who take out a profit of around Rs 1500 while State’s exchequer gets a paltry Rs 27 on every tonne of ore. District Magistrate B. B. Mohapatra, however, shows helplessness on the issue. "These are all policy matters, very little one can do at the district level," he said.

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