In Karnal village, illegal mining was on despite lease expiry month ago: Probe

Parveen Arora

Karnal, February 4

With the official mining lease in the Garhibehral village area in the district having been expired a month ago, the practice was going illegally on around five acres of land, which falls in the Yamuna, for the past 10 days, said an official of the Mining Department.

The JCB machinehave been seized.

It seems the law enforcement agencies have turned a blind eye to illegal mining, hence people involved in this illegal practice were violating all norms. A JCB machine and a dumper involved in mining and ferrying material were found to be without number plates and had been impounded, said the police.

After the report of an attempt to mow down the Gharaunda DSP by a dumper driver, the Mining Department has increased vigil along the river and imposed a penalty of Rs 42.10 lakh on a person for allowing the illegal activity on his land.

"The official mining lease expired on January 3. No one can do mining even on their private land without permission. We have increased vigil along the Yamuna, particularly on the ghats," said Kamlesh Rani, District Mining Officer.

The dumper have been seized.

"We have issued notice to Gilja of Balhera village, directing him to deposit Rs 42.10 lakh penalty for the illegal mining of 21,000 MT sand, which he got done on his fields along the Yamuna. Action will be initiated if he fails to deposit the penalty," she added.

The police have registered a case under Sections 186, 279, 336, of the IPC and Section 21 (4) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act.

Meanwhile, the Gharaunda police have so far arrested five persons, including the owner of the land and the contractor. The arrested persons have been identified as Jawal, his son Gilja of Balhera village and owner of the land; contractor Tanvir; Rinku of Barna in Panipat; and Vinod of Devipur

in the district. However, their political links are yet to be ascertained.

The investigation revealed that mining was going

on a large scale for sale purpose in the local market, said an official.

The police have so far recovered one JCB, two dumpers and two bikes of the accused. The probe revealed that the accused were not big players and they were doing mining on their land with the help of a contractor and others, said the official.

POLICE REGISTER RASH DRIVING CASE

No mention of the bid to run over the DSP have been made in the FIR by the police. Instead a case of rash driving to endanger human life or personal safety of others and obstruct government officials in discharging duty have been registered

from The Tribune https://ift.tt/mjviuNH