Illegal mining of riverbed sand on in Mahendragarh

Ravinder Saini

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Mahendragarh, December 11

Illegal mining of riverbed sand is being carried out at Deroli Ahir village in the district. This came to the fore when a team of the Mining and Geology Department inspected the area and found that illegal mining had been carried out there.

Local villagers involved

Illegal sand mining by a group of villagers in the dried-up Dohan river area has been going on for the past several months. They use tractor-trailers to transport sand for selling it in nearby areas at cheaper rates. Lakhi Ram Yadav, Deroli Ahir sarpanch

Report sent for registering case

The inspection report along with the sarpanch’s complaint has been sent to the Haryana State Enforcement Bureau Police for the registration of a case against the guilty under the Mines and Minerals (Regulations and Development) Act, 1957. Tanu Joshi, Narnaul mining inspector

The inspection was conducted following a complaint by Deroli Ahir Sarpanch Lakhi Ram Yadav. Local residents are said to be involved in the illegal activity.

“Illegal sand mining by a group of villagers in the dried-up Dohan river area has been going on for the past several months. They use tractor-trailers to transport sand for selling it in nearby areas at cheaper rates,” Yadav told The Tribune.

He said there were a number of trees in the riverbed, but those had also been sold by the perpetrators. “We asked them to stop the illegal activity, but to no avail. They threatened and misbehaved with us. That forced us to approach the district authorities,” he added.

“Mining of riverbed sand is banned in the district, but six cases of illegal mining of the sand were also reported in the Nangal Choudhary area in April this year. Sand was transported to other places in tractor-trailers during in the night or in the wee hours,” sources said.

Confirming the illegal mining of riverbed sand at Deroli Ahir village, Narnaul Mining Inspector Tanu Joshi said the inspection report along with the sarpanch’s complaint had been sent to the Haryana State Enforcement Bureau Police for the registration of a case against the guilty under the Mines and Minerals (Regulations and Development) Act, 1957. “During the inspection, no one was found carrying out illegal mining or transporting mining materials, but it was established that sand was illegally mined from there,” she added.