Deep nexus: Drones, satellite imagery to check illegal mining in Haryana

Tribune News Service

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, August 25

After Tauru DSP Surender Singh Bishnoi’s murder, allegedly by the mining mafia in the Nuh area, the Mines and Geology Department has come up with a new standard operating procedure (SOP), calling for the use of drones and satellite imagery, besides videography of areas prone to illegal mining.

New standard operating procedure

• A district-level task force (DLTF) under the DC will identify areas prone to illegal mining
• A committee of officers will visit such areas twice a month and do videography
• If any person is found involved in illegal mining, the inspecting team will seize tools and vehicles, and lodge an FIR

A district-level task force (DLTF) under the deputy commissioner (DC) will identify areas prone to illegal mining. A committee of officers will visit such areas twice a month and do videography.

The DC can order the use of drones for which funds can be requisitioned from the District Mineral Foundation.

If any person is found involved in illegal mining, the inspecting team will seize tools and vehicles, and lodge an FIR. In case, it is private land, the owner’s name will have to be mentioned in the FIR.

In case of repeated instances of illegal mining, the DC concerned can invoke Section 144 of the CrPC. “The DCs shall order 24x7 checkpoints on roads leading to illegal mining-affected areas,” said Anurag Agarwal, Principal Secretary, Mines and Geology.

The new SOP also calls for surprise inspections at least once a week in areas prone to illegal mining.

“We have signed an MoU with the Haryana Space Application Centre (HARSAC) for providing analytics on mining. We will then check if the mining is being done legally or illegally. A control room, manned by HARSAC officials, will be set up in the Mining Department,” Agarwal said.

On receiving a complaint about illegal mining, the matter will be brought to the notice of the DC and the mining officer, preferably within 24 hours. All licensed mineral dealers, stockiests or screening plants will have to submit proofs of original purchase bills along with the list of vehicles used in transportation, on being demanded by the Mines and Geology Department.

No contractor will sell minerals without any bill or e-rawaana and has to allow only GPS-fitted vehicles to carry these from the contract area.

Mining leaseholders will have to set up checkpoints on the approach road to the contract area and install CCTVs to capture vehicle numbers. The DCs will constitute teams to inspect these checkpoints. The carrier carrying minerals must have e-transit pass or e-rawaana, and produce it when asked by any government officer at checkpoints.

The lessees should have their own weighbridges from where transit passes and weight slips would also be issued. In case of transportation of minerals from other states where e-rawaana is not in vogue, the transporter must have valid documents in that regard, verified by the authority concerned of that district or state.

The vehicles found carrying illegally mined material would be impounded. In case mining is done beyond the contract area, an FIR will be lodged.

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