Amit Bathla

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, July 23

The extent of illegal mining in the district can be gauged from the fact that of the eight FIRs filed at the Raipur Rani police station between July 14 and July 21, four were related to the mining activities in the area.

40 cases since April 2020

As per the data available with the mining department, 40 cases of illegal mining have been filed since April 2020. The data revealed that 211 vehicles involved in illegal mining activities were seized during inspection and a fine of Rs 3 crore 89 lakh was deposited in the government treasury.

All four FIRs have been filed on the complaint of suspended District Mining Officer Om Dutt Sharma.

The local mining department though said the cases were filed on individual complaints and insisted that there were no reports of large scale illegal mining in the district.

Presiding over the first meeting of the district public relations and grievance redressal committee on June 28, Sports Minister Sandeep Singh had taken a stern view on the matter.

The minister had sought a detailed report on illegal mining in the district with a view to fix accountability of the mining guard.

During the second meeting of the committee today, the minister suspended the District Mining Officer for lack of action.

“We are putting in our efforts despite a shortage of staff and lack of machinery,” said an official in the mining department, who didn’t wish to be named.

The official said they had written to the head office seeking a redressal but to no avail.

According to the official, the shortage of staff and lack of infrastructure had hit the operations against illegal mining in the district.

“Currently, the mining department has two inspectors, nine guards and one driver. Apart from this, there is only one vehicle for transportation. We need two times of the current staff strength to carry on the anti-mining operations in the district. We also require two vehicles for the field work,” the official added.