Man arrested for illegal mining

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Amritsar, September 9

Despite concern expressed by the Army and BSF authorities over illegal sand mining especially along the river belts near the International Border affecting bunkers’ strength, illegal sand mining is rampant here. The Amritsar rural police have confiscated a truck laden with illegally excavated sand from Ballarwal village here on Thursday evening.

A complaint was lodged by Manpreet Singh, Junior Engineer-cum-mining officer, with the Ajnala police in this regard. The police have arrested the truck driver identified as Balwinder Singh of Khanwal village. The truck contained around 600 cubic ft of sand.

According to the police, as per the preliminary probe, the sand was excavated from fields belonging to some “Masterji”. Sub-Inspector Lakhwinder Singh, investigating officer in the case, said they were verifying the facts and antecedents of those whose names cropped up during investigation.

Ballarwal village is located just one kilometer from the Ravi riverbed, while the international border was just a couple of kilometers away from the spot.

The Ajnala police have registered a case under Section 21 (1) of the Mining Act against Balwinder Singh while further investigations were under progress.