Bolani(Odisha), Jan 8: Led by Barbil Forest Range officer Surjit Kumar Sahu the team continued its raid against illegal mining and smuggling of manganese ore for third consecutive day on Friday. During the drive the forest department team seized 7 metric tons of high quality manganese from the Siddhamath Forest Reserve in Barbil Forest Area under Keonjhar district.
Earlier on Wednesday, huge quantities of illegal manganese ore were seized from Siddhamath protected forest area. The manganese ore is worth Rs 10 lakh while on Thursday the team held people involved in illegal mining of manganese ore from other end of the Siddhamath protected forest area and seized manganese ore worth Rs 10 lakh.
