Criminal nexus: Yamunanagar illegal miners slapped Rs 34.6-lakh fine

Tribune News Service

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Yamunanagar, December 13

The owners of a screening plant and some farmers allegedly carried out huge illegal mining at Bhagwanpur village in Yamunanagar district.

They excavated material from nearly six kanals up to a depth of 20 ft close to the screening plant.

They started to fill the huge pit created by the illegal mining with waste material (silt produced by the screening plant) to hide illegal mining.

When the excavation of raw mining mineral, a mixture of boulder, gravel and sand, came to the notice of the authorities of Mines and Geology Department, Yamunanagar, they lodged an FIR against the suspects and imposed a penalty of Rs 34.66 lakh.

On the direction of Rajesh Sangwan, Assistant Mining Engineer, Yamunanagar, a team comprising mining inspectors Aman and Rohit Singh Rana, mining guard Lakshya Mehta and patwari Devi Charan carried out an inspection at Bhagwanpur village on December 9.

The team found that huge illegal mining had been carried out on a piece of land near the screening plant at the village.

“A case of illegal mining on nearly six kanals has come to light at Bhagwanpur village. Nearly 11,520 MT mineral was excavated from this land up to a depth of 20 ft,” said Sangwan.

He said a penalty of Rs 34.66 lakh had been imposed on the persons indulged in the said illegal mining.

“The amount includes Rs 28.80 lakh as price of the mineral, Rs 5.76 lakh as royalty and Rs 10,000 as fine,” said Rajesh Sangwan.

There was a mining quarry in this area, but as per orders of the Director of the Mines and Geology Department, Haryana, it has been non-functional since April.

“The mining activity has been carried out in violation of the orders of the National Green Tribunal and the Mining Act,” said Sangwan.

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