Koderma admin imposes Rs 1 crore penalty on five mining entities

Koderma: The district mining department has imposed a fine of around Rs 1 crore on five stone mining lease holders for extracting excess minerals but paying less royalty to the government.
Koderma district mining officer Mihir Salkar on Saturday said the lease owners included Mahendra Prasad Verma and his two partners Kapil Prasad Sharma and Ram Lal Prasad Yadav who own a lease area of three-acre land. They were slapped a total fine of Rs 34 lakh. Moreover, Rupak Singh and his partner Parmeshwar Mehta, who have a lease area on 2.3 acres, were fined Rs 16.90 lakh while Medha Baranwal and Himanshu Kediya, who have a three-acre lease area, had to pay a penalty of Rs 14 lakh. Another lease holder, Birendra Mehta, possessing a 60-decimal area was fined Rs 32 lakh.
Deputy commissioner Ramesh Gholap said there were complaints of royalty theft and the action has been taken to set things in order.
Talking to TOI, Salkar said, “There are a total of 50 leases in the district. In case of non-payment of the penalty, a certificate case will be done against the lease holder. We have set a target for Rs 29 crore in royalties for the 2019-2020 financial year, but the department received only Rs 10.50 crore so far.”