Illegal mining dominates Day 2

Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 24

Illegal mining and the resultant damage to the Yamuna riverbed, the road where overloaded trucks ply and loss to the exchequer dominated Question Hour and Zero Hour on the second day of the Budget session of the Vidhan Sabha here today.

Congress MLA Bishan Lal Saini first raised the issue during Question Hour, wanting to know the area in which mining was being carried out in the Yamuna river and the GST collections from mining in the last five years.

Mines and Geology Minister Mool Chand Sharma said of the 18 mines in the riverbed, 15 were operational and Rs 23.93 crore had been collected as GST. Countering the minister, Saini alleged that illegal mining was far more spread out in the area and the exchequer was suffering losses since none of the overloaded dumpers which carried material had pucca bills.

“The roads of the PWD are broken and villagers around this area are tired of the overloaded trucks plying throughout the day. They have only estimate bills and get away with impunity,” he said.

Congress MLA Shamsher Gogi claimed during Zero Hour that illegal mining was not limited to the Yamuna belt alone. “I have photographs of mining in Nissing and it took a lot of running around to register an FIR in this regard. Contractors extract material from adjoining fields by making 60-foot-deep pits to make roads. There is no inquiry and nobody attends to our complaints,” he stated.

Congress MLA Rao Dan Singh claimed that trucks coming from Rajasthan carrying stone and those plying from mining sites within the state were causing extensive damage to roads and resulting in accidents, causing loss of life. “This is causing extensive loss to the exchequer,” he maintained.

Congress MLA Niraj Sharma said the government had been recklessly issuing challans of illegal mining to dumpers bringing in extracted stone from Rajasthan.

He said these challans should be issued merely for overloading since mining was not illegal. “The government is confused and should explain if it will compensate those being wrongly booked for illegal mining,” he said.

During Question Hour, Forest Minister Kanwar Pal Gujjar said the Forest Department would contact the farmers concerned in the future to give information about the trees that would be cut within the area of 3 metres of their land while constructing roads. He informed the House that farmers would get a choice to keep half of the trees.

Health Minister Anil Vij said a detailed project report was being prepared for new medical colleges in Jind, Bhiwani, Narnaul and Gurugram districts. He said construction in Jind would be completed in about three years at a cost of Rs 663.86 crore.

Officers Catch up on sleep

Officers seem to be burning the midnight oil this Budget session. A few of them took frequent naps during the Question Hour to catch up on their sleep in the officers’ gallery each time proceedings of the House seemed lost into a long-drawn speech by an MLA.