Special police team formed to check illegal mining in Nurpur

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, January 25

The Nurpur district police have deployed a special team in Khanni area in Nurpur to check illegal mining on the Chakki riverbed on the inter-state border. The police team led by an ASI and comprising nine other personnel has started patrolling Khanni, Maira, Mouja Pail, Nakki and their surrounding areas that are affected by illegal mining.

A delegation of elected representatives of gram panchayats surrounding the Chakki rivulet in Nurpur and villagers had met Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu during his stay here last week and apprised him of rampant illegal mining in their area. In a memorandum submitted to Sukhu, they had alleged that the mining mafia had destroyed their fertile land in Khanni, Maira, Mouja Pail, Nakki and surrounding rural areas and created big trenches due to unscientific mining done with heavy machinery like JCB machines.

The villagers said that they had made several complaints to the police and the civil administration but the mining mafia continues to violate the National Green Tribunal (NGT) rules and the mining policy with impunity, endangering the existence of the Chakki rivulet.

The villagers had appealed to the state government to launch an aggressive crackdown against the mining mafia and save their fertile land from turning barren, underground water resources and the ecology of the area.

Ashok Ratan, SP, Nurpur, said that on the receipt of complaints from locals and on the directions of the state government, a special mining police team comprising 10 members had been deployed in the affected areas to keep strict vigil on illegal mining.

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