Excavators, tippers seized in Nurpur illegal mining case

Nurpur, April 3

Following a tip-off, the Nurpur police conducted a raid in the Chakki rivulet area under Kandwal police jurisdiction this morning. The cops seized three JCB machines and five tippers for illegally extracting minerals from the rivulet at Khanni village.

The Nurpur district police has launched a special drive against the mining mafia in the inter-state border area, where banned heavy machinery has been wreaking havoc to the environment and the underground water resources, creating big trenches in the Chakki riverbed.

Nurpur SP Ashok Ratan said the police imposed a Rs 2.50 lakh fine on the owners of the JCB machines. A Rs 75,000 fine was imposed on the owners of the tippers, he added.

He said the police had, so far, registered four theft cases and seized 11 vehicles being used for illegal mining in the Nurpur police district.

“Apart from this, the police have seized 15 vehicles and land excavators being used illegally in mining activities during the same period,” he added.

As per police information, during the past four months, the police issued 215 challans under the Illegal Mining Act and recovered Rs 25,70,600 as fines from January 1st to March 31st.