Crushing mafia

THE mining e-portal set up by the Haryana government has started showing results as it has revealed bogus transactions by the mining mafia, which has been thriving with impunity for decades. Following reports of rampant misuse of e-transit passes (called e-Ravaanas) to transport sand, stone, stone dust, core sand, gravel and boulder by stone-crushing and screening plants, the state Mines and Geology Department had in April constituted a team to check the large-scale malpractice, particularly seen in Yamunanagar, Gurugram, Nuh, Faridabad and Palwal districts. The modus operandi of the mafia was to evade the payment of sales tax and royalty by first issuing e-transit passes for trucks loaded with the mining material and then cancelling them after the vehicles had crossed the check-posts of the department. This allegedly facilitated the adjustment of illegally mined material with the e-Ravaana bills, even as no physical sale or purchase was done.

As many as 89 stone crushers and screening plants were recently caught on the wrong foot in Yamunanagar district alone. They have been prohibited from generating e-Ravaana bills. The ban not only debars these miners from mining but also serves as a show-cause notice to them. The records of some units showed transactions with firms of Goa, Gujarat, Delhi and J&K, even though buying raw mining material from far-off places is not feasible. In another major development last month, a penalty of over Rs 1.95 crore had been imposed on two screening plants that were found indulging in illegal purchase of mining material in Yamunanagar. Bogus e-transit passes had done them in too.

The crackdown is an important step towards crushing the mining mafia-official-politician nexus. The final blow would come when this evidence leads to the conviction of the accused.