Officials yet to recover Rs 150 crore from stone crusher owners

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, June 17

Government officials are hesitating on ordering the closure of about 40 stone crushers in Kangra district and 60 in other parts of the state. The closure was to be ordered as stone crusher owners are not paying penalty worth about Rs 150 crore to the state government.

Sources said the lower-rung officials at the district level wanted direct orders for closing the stone crushers from the higher officials whereas higher officials had left it to the low-rung officials.

A senior official in the Mining Department said the matter had been pending with the state government since months. The government should have withdrawn permissions for operating the stone crushers. However, it was strange that no such direction had been issued.

Sources in the department said since the stone crusher owners were not paying the penalty despite the fact that their plea had been rejected in the Supreme Court, the government should have ordered their closure. The decision assumes significance as many erring stone crushers were owned by ruling party MLAs or office-bearers of the party.

Minister for Industries Bikram Thakur was not available for comments despite the repeated attempts to contact him on the phone.

Forty stone crushers in Kangra district owe Rs 80 crore to the state government as penalty for illegal mining. Despite the fact that the stone crusher owners had lost the case against penalty in the Supreme Court, they have not paid the amount to the state government, nor submitted any schedule repayment.

Interestingly, about 25 erring stone crushers are still being allowed to operate by the authorities. In Kangra district, most of the defaulters are in Nurpur that borders Pathankot district of Punjab.

Mining officer posted in Nurpur subdivision Naresh Kumar said notices had been issued to the violating stone crushers to deposit the penalty. He said the closure of stone crushers would be ordered once the directions were received from the higher authorities.

The issue was also raised in the Himachal Assembly. BJP MLA from Nurpur Rakesh Pathania had raised it after he was targeted by party MLAs over illegal mining.

The mining officer said since the BJP government took over, power connections of 25 illegal stone crushers were severed. The power connections of seven had now been restored after they completed the papers.

The state on April 6 increased the penalty for illegal mining to Rs 5 lakh. However, no one has been penalised under the new rules.

The mining officer said for the first time in the state, a penalty of Rs 50,000 was imposed on a stone crusher owner for using Pokelane crane for mining.

However, the changed mining rules have failed to discourage people from illegal mining. The department has registered 50 cases in which a fine of Rs 7 lakh has been imposed. The sources said the illegal mining had increased in Himachal as it has almost been stopped in many areas of Punjab.

Pending for 6 months 

• Matter pending before present government for the past six months 
• Forty stone crushers in Kangra district owe Rs 80 crore to the state government as penalty for illegal mining Despite the fact that the stone crusher owners had lost the case against penalty in the Supreme Court, they have not paid the amount to the state government, nor submitted any schedule repayment.