Mining dept slaps ₹1.30cr fine on construction firm

Gumla: The mining department has imposed a fine of Rs 1.30 crore on Bhubaneswar-based RKD Construction Pvt. Ltd. on charges of extracting stones from areas outside the allotted space at Asni ‘pahar’, located 6 km away from the district headquarters.
The firm, which is constructing the four-lane Gumla-Palma highway, was allotted a mining lease patta of the 7.02 acre Asni hill in April 2021.
“As we measured the allotted mining lease area, we found that the RKD company is mining on additional 34 decimal unleased area,” district mining officer (DMO) Ramnath Rai said.
“After calculating the excessive exacavation of stone mine, a fine of Rs 1,30,33,053, which is double the cost of mineral excavated illegally by the road construction company has been imposed under rule 56/6 of the Jharkhand Minor Minerals (Concession) Rules-2004, and a demand note has been served to the company to pay the amount within 7 days,” he said.
The rate of royalty per cubic metre of boulder is Rs 250 and Rs 150 for stone chips, Rai added.
The RKD Construction Pvt. Ltd. is constructing a 63.170km four-lane Gumla to Palma (near) Bero-Ranchi highway. “The work on the Rs 1034 crore highway project, which includes construction of seven vehicular under passes (VUCs), was started by the RKD Construction Pvt. Ltd. on April 1, 2022 and it has to be completed by March 31, 2024,” said project director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Rajiv Ranjan, who is looking after the execution of the project.
The NHAI has set up its project implementation unit ( PIU) in Gumla in April 2022.
“The Gumla-Palma four lane project is one of the biggest projects being executed in Jharkhand. Nine PIUs have been set up across the district,” added site engineer Ankit Chaudhary.
“Around 5,000 families of 28 villages in Bharno, Sisai and Gumla have been affected by the project. About 98% the compensation amount out of the Rs 292 crore, which has been provided to the district, has been disbursed while the compensation part of the project is Rs 335 crore,” said Gumla district land acquisition officer Susham Leelam Soreng.