Police seize JCB machine used for illegal mining

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, April 30

In a massive crackdown launched by the Kangra police in lower areas of Palampur, it seized a JCB machine last night. The machine was pressed for illegal mining in Mol Khud by the owner of the stone crusher, thirty kilometres from here.

Talking to mediapersons, Kangra SP Shalini Agnihotri said it was a joint operation of Bhawarna and Lambagaon police. She said other vehicles like tippers and tractor-trailers which were also engaged in the mining, managed to escape the river bed. She added that the JCB owner was booked under the Mining Act.

She maintained that the mining mafia in lower areas of Palampur was active at night and extracted stone and sand from rivers and private land without the permission of the government.

The local residents had complained of large-scale pollution in Thural and Jaisinghpur areas emanating from stone crushers functioning round the clock.

The police will launch a special drive to check the illegal mining and the cooperation of local residents will also be sought in this regard, said Agnihotri.

She warned the mafia that police would not hesitate to book the offenders under the provisions of the IPC and NGT laws, if they continued such activities.

She further stated that mining was not only resulting in environmental degradation and pollution, but also causing massive losses to the state exchequer as the mining material was being lifted from local rivers without paying royalty to the state government.