Mining mafia earned Rs155 cr in Tajewala

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, April 16

The mining mafia has illegally excavated about 50 acres in Tajewala village of Yamunanagar district and sold material worth around Rs155 crore, causing revenue loss of around Rs21 crore to the exchequer.

The damage caused to the fragile eco-system is yet to be estimated. As per an expert, if excavation up to 40 feet is done on 50 acres, the extracted material is around 8,71,20,000 cubic feet.

The expert said the quantity of small stone (gatka) was 50 per cent and gravel (bajri) and sand 25 per cent each in raw mining material.

He said the mining mafia had extracted 4,35,60,000 cubic feet of small stone and sold it for Rs69,69,60,000, priced at Rs16 per cubic foot.

He said the mafia had extracted 2,17,80,000 cubic feet of gravel and sold it for Rs39,20,40,000, priced at Rs18 per cubic foot. He said the mafia had extracted 2,17,80,000 cubic feet of sand and sold it for Rs45,73,80,000, priced at Rs21 per cubic foot. The expert said the Bailgarh South mining block of 28 hectares (70 acres) in Yamunanagar district was auctioned for Rs19,63,50,000 in 2015.

If the government were to auction 50 acres in Tajewala, it would have earned over Rs13.5 crore as royalty and around Rs7.5 crore as GST (charged at 5 per cent on mining material).

The government did not auction a mining block here as mining was not permissible in an area up 500 metres from the edge of Yamuna embankment. DC Amna Tasneem said she had formed teams of officials to keep a strict vigil.