Dami Patra, a tribal of Parja Khudi, was recently buried alive while digging for gemstones in Turia mines. His death came to light when his relatives disclosed it much later. They were reportedly paid by Dami's employer to keep their mouths shut.

In a similar incident last year, six tribals were killed and 12 injured while digging in the Turia mines. The businessmen allegedly concealed the deaths by compensating the family of the deceased.

The lure of gold is, obviously, taking its toll on the tribals. The irony is, the lure is not theirs.

It is a common practice among the tribals of Potangi, Semiliguda and Koraput blocks to take up digging of the Turia gemstone mines. The surge ingemstone smuggling in the last three years has seen more tribals taking to this risky job. Neither the accidents nor the repeated imposition of Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code by the district administration has deterred mining.

Sources said, illegal mining has gone up as the State mines department has shown little interest to explore the gemstone potential of the 45 sqkm Turia region. The district administration, reportedly, had suggested to the department to take up mining activities but the department refused the suggestion stating it was an unviable.

The presence of gemstones, particularly `Cat's eye stone' in Turia has reportedly ushered a mad rush of smugglers from Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. They work with the local businessmen and then allegedly smuggle the gemstones to national and international markets.

That the police have failed to check illegal mining is evident enough from the fact that only two cases of gemstone smuggling has been registered in theKotpad police station in the past two years. While news of police-businessman nexus do the rounds, police sources maintain that lack of adequate manpower and the location of a police post at Taupadar, four km from the mining site, has rendered the police helpless.

In view of widespread resentment due to the recent deaths the Koraput superintendent of police Arun Sadangi has ordered a special enquiry. However, the district administration and mines department are yet to take any concrete step to save the precious Turia gemstone mines.