At Rs 20L/acre, pvt land owners allow riverbed mining in Mahendragarh

Ravinder Saini

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Mahendragarh, December 28

A novel trend of illegal mining of riverbed sand on private land has come to light in Mahendragarh district with the Haryana State Enforcement Bureau recently registering two such cases on the complaint of the local mining office.

Two FIRs lodged in 2 villages

• One case each has come to light in Mausampur and Shahpur Aval villages
• 13,500 MT and 960 MT of riverbed and ordinary sand was mined in the two villages, respectively
• A revenue loss of Rs 34.79L was caused in Mausampur and Rs 26.86L in Shahpur Aval

Though mining of riverbed sand is banned in the district, landowners have been allowing the illegal practice on their land and are charging Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh per acre against it. In previous cases, riverbed sand mining was found to have been carried out on panchayat land, said an official of the Mines and Geology Department. Sources said the two cases were reported from Mausampur and Shahpur Aval (Mandi) villages wherein the perpetrators caused a revenue loss of over Rs 60 lakh to the state exchequer through riverbed sand mining. “The illegal trend came to our notice during raids to the villages following a tip-off. On investigation, it was found that the landowners had given their land to the miners and were charging a hefty amount in return,” said the official. The sources said 13,500 MT and 960 MT of riverbed and ordinary sand was mined in Mausampur and Shahpur Aval villages, causing a loss of Rs 34.79 lakh and Rs 26.86 lakh, respectively.

Mining Inspector Tanu Joshi said more than 10 villages were located around Dohan and Krishnawati rivers in the district where riverbed sand was available, but its mining was banned. “This is the first time when private landowners have been caught getting riverbed mining done on their land. They were served penalty notices before the cases being forwarded to the enforcement bureau for registration of FIRs,” she said.

Tanu maintained her team had also seized a trailer on the Mahendragarh-Dadri road in which ordinary sand was being transported. The driver managed to flee with the tractor after separating the trailer, she said.