Illegal mining on land meant for cremation ground in Yamunanagar

Shiv Kumar Sharma

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Yamunanagar, November 22

The mining mafia has allegedly not spared even the land reserved for a cremation ground at Bhagwanpur village in Yamunanagar district.

Illegal mining on about one acre land meant for the cremation ground was allegedly carried out by the owners of a screening plant situated on the bank of the Pathrala river, a seasonal rivulet.

Rs 70L loss to exchequer

• The accused extracted about 34,848 MT raw mining material from the said land
• Illegal mining has caused a loss of around Rs 70 lakh to the government exchequer

The accused allegedly extracted about 34,848 MT raw mining material (a mixture of boulders, gravel and sand) from the said piece of land. The matter came into light when the field staff of the Mines and Geology Department visited the Pathrala riverbed area in and around Bhagwanpur village on November 6. The staff members saw heavy machinery and a tipper engaged in illegal extraction of mining material near a screening plant adjacent to the riverbed at Bhagwanpur village.

Raw mining material illegally extracted

The illegally excavated one acre land belongs to the cremation ground of Bhagwanpur village. The owners of a screening plant have illegally extracted about 34,848 MT raw mining material from the said one acre land. Rajesh Sangwan, Asst mining engineer, Mines and geology dept

The team found that around one acre land had been illegally excavated up to a depth of 20 feet near the said screening plant.

“The illegally excavated one acre land belongs to the cremation ground of Bhagwanpur village. The owners of a screening plant have illegally extracted about 34,848 MT raw mining material from the said one acre land,” said Rajesh Sangwan, Assistant Mining Engineer, Mines and Geology Department, Yamunanagar. The owners of the said screening plant had caused a loss of around Rs 70 lakh to the government exchequer by carrying out illegal mining on the land meant for the cremation ground, he added.

“A careful perusal of the online portal of the said screening plant revealed that there was no purchase of raw minerals after July 8, 2022. But, raw and processed minerals (4,890 MT) were present at the screening plant at the time of inspection,” Sangwan said. He said they had filed an FIR against the owners of the said screening plant in connection with illegal mining. “We have written to the tehsildar of Bilaspur to take action as the area where the illegal mining has been done is reserved for a cremation ground. We have also written to the Regional Officer of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, Yamunanagar, to cancel the consent to operatet,” he added.