‘Mining mafia active in Indora’

Nurpur, March 13

Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) spokesperson Manmohan Singh Katoch has urged Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to constitute a high-level committee to probe into the alleged connivance of the administrative bureaucracy with the forest and mining mafia active in the Indora Assembly constituency of Kangra district.

In a statement, Katoch, who is a former president of state Youth Congress, alleged that the administrative machinery was inactive in checking the illegal mining and illicit felling of trees.

He said the Chief Minister had a commitment for zero tolerance to corruption and had succeeded in generating revenue to the tune of Rs 2,200 crore by plugging corruption routes in the first year.

“The previous BJP government was incapable in reining in bureaucracy and had patronised the mining and forest mafias,” he alleged.

Katoch alleged the mining mafia active in neighbouring Punjab had shifted their illegal activities to the Beas and Chhonchh rivulets in Indora.

He said the authorities were issuing challans to tractor-trolleys carrying sand and gravel for construction activities, but turning a blind eye to the ongoing illegal mining with banned mechanical machinery and illicit felling in forests in Indora. He said he would meet the CM on the issue.