The land, where mining was going on, belonged to the residents of Jabrot Moja village. (Express Photo by Jaipal Singh/Representational)
More than a dozen men, engaged in illegal mining, attacked a team of the Haryana forest department on Thursday night and took away two JCB machines and two tipper trucks near Bujr Kotia village on the bank of the Ghaggar near Jabrot Moja village in Panchkula district. The land, where mining was going on, belonged to the residents of Jabrot Moja village. The incident happened around 1.45 am.
The forest department has filed an FIR naming four people, including Bhura Khan, a resident of Ambwala Kotia village and owner of two tipper trucks, at the Pinjore police station. The assailants also damaged a Bolero jeep of the forest department after hitting it with a tipper truck that was being used to load sand and stones. Mining is allowed in the Ghaggar river but only at designated sites, allotted by the district mining department.
Sources said, “The forest department team was tipped off about illegal mining by the residents of Jabrot Moja, who had once been threatened by Bhura Khan. A team of the forest department rushed to the spot and found two JCB machines, digging sand and stones, and two tipper trucks, in which the sand and stones were being loaded. As soon as the team arrived, eight workers, who were operating the machines, ran away with the JCB machines and one tipper truck. The forest team tried to chase the tipper, which hit a government vehicle and damaged it. One tipper truck, with a Haryana number, was left behind.”
Forest Officer Sunil Kundu, who was heading the forest team, said, “The attack on our party took place when we are taking the seized tipper truck to the forest range office in Pinjore from Ghaggar river when more than a dozen people, who came in a Bolero and a Swift Dezire, and attacked us. Armed with blunt weapons, they forcefully took away the tipper truck from our custody. We have sent a detailed report of the incident to our senior officers and also intimated the Panchkula DCP about it.”