Illegal mining, overloading: Haryana Minister suspends Panchkula District Mining Officer

Tribune News Service

Advertisement

Panchkula, July 23

Taking a serious cognisance of large-scale illegal mining and overloading in the district, Haryana Sports Minister Sandeep Singh today ordered the suspension of District Mining Officer Om Dutt Sharma and transfer o District Transport Officer-cum-Secretary of the RTA Amarinder Singh for their failure to address both issues and fix the responsibility of those working under them.

He was presiding over the second meeting of the District Public Relations and Grievance Redressal Committee at the PWD Rest House in Sector 1 here today.

During its first meeting on June 28, the minister had sought a detailed report on illegal mining to fix the responsibility of senior officials in the Mining Department.

Haryana Speaker and local MLA Gian Chand Gupta had also ordered an inquiry into overloading of trucks with mined stones.

Apart from this, Gupta had also asked the District Transport Officer to actively penalise truckers for overloading mined stones in their trucks and dumpers.

According to a press release by the District Information & Public Relations Officer (DIPRO), both officials failed to satisfy the committee with the action taken by them as per the instructions issued during the first meeting.

Suspended District Mining Officer Om Dutt Sharma couldn’t be reached for a comment. ADC Mohammad Imran Raza, DCP Mohit Handa, Panchkula SDM Richa Rathee and Kalka SDM Rakesh Sandhu were among those present.