Criminal Nexus: PAC bares faults in Yamunanagar mining ops

Tribune News Service

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, August 30

The Haryana Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has reported glaring culpabilities in mining operations in Yamunanagar district as the e-ravaana portal reflected multiple dispatches within a few seconds (which is impossible), mining check-posts were operated by employees of mining contractors and CCTVs and weighbridge were found non-functional.

CCTVs not working

• Sand mine converted to a boulder-gravel mine, but no boulders, gravel found at site
• e-ravaana portal shows the impossible as multiple dispatches happen in seconds
• CCTVs and weighbridge found non-functional; no DVR or backup of recording

A report of the committee was presented before the Assembly on August 29.

The committee, headed by Congress MLA Varun Chaudhary, held a meeting with the Yamunanagar district administration and reviewed the functioning of the district-level task force committee on mining, besides inspecting the two mining sites at Kanalsi and Dhanaura in Yamunanagar on June 21. The report mentioned that “none of the CCTV cameras was found functional” and “no DVR or backup of recording was being maintained”. It added that “none of the weighbridges at the sites was found functional”. There was no record/evidence of labour working at sites. Talking to The Tribune, committee chairperson Varun Chaudhary said, “While the site at Kanalsi was converted from a sand mine to a boulder-gravel-sand mine, no boulders or gravel were found at the site.”

There were insufficient number of permanent pillars, which are to be placed to clearly demarcate the site. Another fraud that the committee noted was on the e-ravaana portal, which showed multiple dispatches within a few seconds, “which is impossible”. The committee instructed the Director General (Mines) to look into the matter and initiate action. It sought to know how the site at Kanalsi was changed from a sand mine to a boulder-gravel-sand mine and also about those involved in the approval process. It wanted a similar probe carried out into all mining sites in Yamunanagar district.

The committee asked Principal Accountant General (PAG) officials to inspect the e-ravaana software and bills of all working mines of Yamunanagar.

“The committee was shocked to observe that mining check posts were being operated by employees of mining contractors instead of employees of the Mining Department,” said the report.

It said officials of the district-level task force committee (mining), except the mining officer, never visited the mining sites, which was a “matter of concern”.

Also, mining was not being carried out as per the plan and guidelines mentioned in the environmental clearance certificate. The Mines and Mineral Development, Restoration and Rehabilitation Fund, which is to be used for creating common facilities for the benefit of the community in and around areas of mining, was not being utilised, said the report.

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