3 machines seized after high drama with MLA released

Nawanshahr: The state mining department has released the three machines seized by the local administration from a sand mining site near Malakpur village after high drama had taken place when Garhshankar MLA Jai Kishan Singh Rori visited the site on November 22 and men of the contractor had shouted at him and physically stopped him. The machines were seized as the conditions laid in the environment clearance for the sand mining site prohibited mining by machines.

The machines were seized by the Nawanshahr tehsildar after Rori had complained to Nawanshahr DC and SSP, alleging that irregularities were taking place at the mining site.

District mining officer Chaman Lal Garg said that they had issued a show-cause notice to the contractor about the presence of machines and he had replied that these were not being used for mining but only for levelling the passage and to take out the tractor trolleys if these got stuck in the wet and sandy passage. "When these were seized by the tehsildar, then also these were not working at the site," he said, adding that the final decision on contractor's reply and any subsequent action would be taken by the district level committee headed by the DC.

The mining department had seized two Pocklain earth moving machines and one digging machine. As Rori was stopped by the men of the contractor and they angrily shouted at him and tried to stop him, one of his aides filmed the goings-on. He had alleged that there was no clear demarcation of the mining site. The contractor's men had said that he could not enter the area and repeatedly asked if he had "search warrants".

According to the mining department, as the sand quarry is smaller than five acres, the conditions in the environment clearance mandated that mining could be done only manually and machines could not be used.