File FIRs against owners of vehicles involved in illegal mining immediately: Panchkula DC

Panchkula: Deputy commissioner Monica Gupta on Thursday directed that FIRs be immediately filed against the owners of vehicles involved in illegal mining and that they be arrested. She issued these instructions while chairing a meeting of the district task force related to mining issues.
Gupta warned officials that negligence in duty will not be tolerated under any circumstances. She emphasised that if officers and staff assigned to checkpoints for stopping illegal mining fail to report for duty, FIRs will be filed against them as well. She also ordered that one of the checkpoints be immediately relocated to Kiratpur.
During the meeting, while discussing the recent seizures of vehicles involved in illegal mining, it was reported that two JCB machines were caught. The DC immediately initiated a video call to verify the numbers of the JCBs, which were parked at a checkpoint.
Kalka MLA Shakti Rani Sharma also recommended stricter measures to curb illegal mining. She provided suggestions to the DC, who assured that these would be considered for action.
Recently, the in-charge of Amravati police post was allegedly chased, attacked, and threatened by a group of illegal miners in Panchkula when he tried to stop them. The incident took place on March 23. Sub-inspector Rajbir Singh was travelling from Panchkula to his police post in Amravati when he was tipped off about illegal mining in the Burj Kotia riverbed.
Besides, in another illegal mining case, about 12 persons, including cops, were arrested. A total of 82 persons were named by four of the arrested accused.