45-ft-deep pit in Yamunanagar, screening plant sells sand, gravel on fake papers

Shiv Kumar Sharma

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Yamunanagar, February 12

The owners of a screening plant, situated at Nainawali village in the district, were found involved in illegal mining. They allegedly extracted about 40,320 MT of mining material (boulders, gravel and sand) from a piece of land situated close to the plant by carrying out excavation up to a depth of 45 ft.

To evade action, the owners reportedly showed the illegally mined material as a purchase from a Charkhi Dadri firm on the e-rawana portal. They allegedly bought fake transit passes (e-rawana) from the firm.

Sources said two FIRs were registered against the plant owners, one at Pratap Nagar police station in Yamunanagar and another at Badhra police station in Charkhi Dadri. They said the illegal activity came to light when a joint team of the Mines and Geology Department and the police raided the site measuring 0.75 acres. The team found a huge pit from where about 40,320 MT of mining material was extracted illegally. Rajesh Sangwan, Assistant Mining Engineer, said, “On checking details on the portal, we found the owners purchased a whopping 44,134.65 MT of mining material from Charkhi Dadri in just 12 days, between January 27 and February 7.”

“Boulders, gravel and sand nowhere exist in Charkhi Dadri district. Moreover, the purchase of minerals from a distance of 260 km is neither feasible nor profitable,” said Sangwan, adding it became clear that the owners only purchased transit passes to sell illegally mined mineral as legal stock. He said they had written to the Director, Mines and Geology Department, requesting him to cancel the mineral dealer’s licence and block its access to the e-rawana portal.