Out to stop mining in Aravalis, team attacked by men on bikes

GURGAON: On a raid to crackdown on sand mining in the Aravalis of Sohna on Wednesday, a team of officials from the mining department in the city was ambushed by a group of 10-12 stick-wielding men on motorcycles, who allegedly attacked them and fled with an earthmover that had been seized.

One mining officer has a fracture to his arm, and some others sustained minor injuries in the attack, department officials said. The windshield of the car in which the team was traveling was also broken.
Officials said that they got a tip-off about sand mining in Sancholi village. A team of 8 officials raided the village around 4.15pm and found a JCB machine that they suspected was being used for sand mining. They seized the earthmover and were returning to their office in Gurgaon when they were surrounded by the group of men.
“One of the mining officers has been referred to Sector-10 government hospital from Sohna hospital. It looks like he has a fractured arm. Others have some minor injuries. It seems like a big gang of miners,” said Anil Atwal, Gurgaon mining officer.
An FIR has been registered at the Sohna police station against 12 unidentified accused under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 186 (voluntarily obstructs any public servant), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 427 (mischief and thereby causes loss) of the IPC.
In 2009, the Supreme Court imposed a blanket ban on mining in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Nuh after observing the damage to the Aravalis. But mining has continued in the eco-sensitive area, and enforcement agencies have come under attack trying to stop it.
On July 19, 2022 – four days shy of an exact year earlier -- a group of miners ran over Tauru DSP Surender Singh Bishnoi who had intercepted them in the Aravalis of Pachgaon in Nuh. At the time, the Haryana government had created a commission of inquiry to probe the case and suggest deterrents to prevent reoccurrence of such incidents in the future.
A month after the DSP’s killing, a group of officials out on an inspection was thrashed at Sehjawas village of Sohna when they tried to stop a tractor that had been carrying stones.
Then again in September, a team of officials was pelted with stones in Bader village of Nuh as they went after a gang of miners who had excavators with them. The team of police and mining department officials had to call in reinforcements for backup.
In the latest incident, the mining department team was being accompanied by a cop who was armed with just a lathi.
“I will be writing to the higher authorities to provide weapons to us so that we can tackle such a situation. The miscreants had sticks with them while the mining officials were empty handed, even though we had support from the police,” Atwal said.
Stopping of illegal mining is crucial for the three districts, where the Aravalis are a part of a wildlife corridor, from the Asola Wildlife Sanctuary in Delhi to tha Sariska in Rajasthan. More so, the hills are the only barrier stopping the expansion of dessert-like conditions from Thar to northwest India.