Dharamshala: To curb the activities of a mining mafia who use heavy machinery to extract stones and sand from hillsides or riverbeds, district police registered cases and booked 3 heavy earth excavators, 5 JCB excavator machines and 10 trucks that were found to be operating in contravention of the mining act
Speaking to Hill Post S Gandhi, district police chief said that many people were involved in causing blatant loss to nature and carrying out mining activities in an unscientific way.
He said , “We have succeeded in curbing illegal mining in Palampur area, especially in Neugal Rivulet where many illegal mining operators were earlier active. We have also launched an operation to stall illegal mining in Mand and Chakki area that borders Punjab.”
“We have registered cases and seized 3-Heavy Earth Excavators ( Poclanes), 5 JCB machines and 10 trucks in the last 24 hours,” said Gandhi.
We will also investigate and assess leased areas along with terms and conditions granted for carrying mining activities as well as agreements thereto. A state geologist would be associated to assess the losses caused because of unscrupulous and unscientific mining, he added.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.
