By Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, Dec 5 (IANS) The craving for liquor among impoverished tribals and middlemen with bundles of currency notes to oblige them have ensured that illegal diamond mining continues unabated in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur district.

This, despite intensified police patrolling.

According to an officer at the nearby Mainpur police station, poor tribals are stuffing gunny bags with soil from the site at Pailikhand village in Raipur district. Diamond merchants from Mumbai and Surat camping in the area pay about Rs.100 a bag.

“This is what they (the locals) need for their daily dose of liquor,” the officer told IANS on condition of strict anonymity.

The state government awarded a prospecting licence to a private firm, B. Vijaykumar Chhattisgarh Exploration Pvt Ltd in 2000, but cancelled it a year later, fenced off the area with confirmed diamond deposits and deployed security personnel.

The company has since then moved the Chhattisgarh High Court against the government decision.

The government has also banned people from visiting Pailikhand — where Maoist activities have been on the rise. But in July this year, the security was withdrawn, apparently for want of accommodation and other facilities for policemen.

Senior police officials, however, say measures are now being taken to check illegal mining in the 18 hectares of the diamond-rich stretch, some 150 km from state capital Raipur.

“We have stepped up patrolling and told the local population that anyone found at the site will be taken into custody if they do not have the district administration’s permission,” said Raipur police chief Amit Kumar.

“It’s true there are no securitymen now, but we are covering the area through patrolling. Policemen will be re-deployed when their accommodation is built,” Kumar told IANS.

“We need houses for about 40-50 police personnel to guard the site and counter attacks from the Maoists,” he said, adding: “There is nothing for the jawans now. I have requested the mining authorities to ensure water and electricity supplies.”

The local MP, Chandulal Sahu, who belongs to the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has expressed surprise over the security withdrawal.

“It’s shocking that a confirmed diamond-rich site has been left unprotected since July, especially when Maoist movement has increased in the area,” Sahu, who represents the Mahasamund parliamentary constituency, told IANS.

The opposition Congress party too has taken note of the development, and sent a six-member team to Pailikhand late last month.

“The team saw hundreds of people jostling with one another to dig the soil and take away stones,” Congress general secretary Ramesh Varlyani said. “It’s an open loot of diamonds.”

(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)