Mishaps kill two at Dadam mining site; Opp slams Khattar govt

As per reports, two persons were killed in a span of 24 hours at the Dadam mining site. One Bheem Singh of Dulheri village in Tosham was killed late on Saturday after a rock fell on him near a mining pit. He was a truck driver. The other person, Sonu Rabya (35), a resident of Dadam village was killed while performing drill on Sunday. Sonu had got married seven months ago and was the sole breadwinner for his family. Another worker escaped with minor injuries, a police official said.

The incident comes less than four months after five persons were killed and three injured in a landslide at the Dadam mining site.

Hitting out at the state government, Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja said Manohar Lal Khattar has failed to learn lessons from the past incidents.

“The association between mining mafia and the BJP-JJP alliance government is continuously killing people. State government does not care about the precious lives of the people. Had it taken any lessons from past incidents, the lives lost in Dadam now could have been saved,” Selja said.

“In January, five people died at Dadam, while one person lost his life in Nangal Chaudhary’s Jainpur-Biharipur. Investigation report of the National Green Tribunal also confirmed illegal mining and wrongful mining, but no action was taken by the state government. When Congress created pressure, the government got a case registered in the Dadam episode, but those actually responsible for it have not been arrested. Had the government taken concrete action against the mining mafia, the latest incident could have been avoided. Eight deaths within four months are enough to expose the government. The report of six committees constituted by the state government (to look into illegal mining) has not been received yet which shows how well the organized illegal business is going on,” Selja added.

Alleging that the illegal mining was not only limited to Dadam or Nangal Chaudhary areas, Selja claimed that it was going on in entire Haryana. “State government had been denying illegal mining since the beginning, but the fall of mountain exposed the illegal mining in the areas of Dadam and Nangal Chaudhary. Even in Faridabad, Gurugram, Sohna and Yamunanagar, reports of illegal mining are being received continuously. There was also the involvement of the ruling party leaders in the mining taking place on such a large scale and that is why the government neither accepts illegal mining nor takes any action. Being sources of illegal earning of thousands of crores of rupees, the state government has remained silent even after receiving the NGT report. Even now, efforts are being made to suppress the matter by calling the incident at Dadam an accident,” she added.

INLD MLA Abhay Chautala too lashed out at the state government for not taking adequate steps to prevent illegal mining. In a statement, Abhay said, “In absence of any concrete steps or strict action being taken by the state government, mining mafia is rampantly indulging in illegal activities. Repeated incidents in which people are losing their lives reveal how the mining mafia is enjoying government’s patronage to carry on with their nefarious activities”.