Villager thrashed by mining mafia

NurpurResidents of Takiya Chanor village of Chanor gram panchayat under the Indora police station are up in arms against the unabated illegal mining on government land and in Chhonchh rivulet due to the apathy of the government department concerned to act against the illegal activity.

As per information, a large number of JCB machines of stone crushers of neighbouring Punjab descend on this area of the Indora Assembly constituency in Kangra district at night and allegedly indulge in illegal mining.

Following the complaint by Raham Ali, a local resident, the Indora police registered an FIR under Sections 126, 115(2), 351 and 352 of the BNS Act last evening against unidentified persons who reportedly assaulted him with sticks on Thursday night when he, along with other villagers, objected to illegal mining on government land near their houses.

The victim was injured in the attack and rescued by villagers who informed the police, but the accused fled before the police arrived on the spot. The police rushed him to the local Civil Hospital and registered a case after his medical examination.

Rehmat Ali and Yakub, the residents, lamented that the illegal mining with JCB machines was playing havoc in their area and had made the lives of villagers miserable. They said after the incident of beating the complainant, an atmosphere of terror of mining mafia from Punjab was prevailing in the area. They also forwarded video clips and photographs of illegal mining of their area to the SP Nurpur for information and swift action to check the menace. A local resident also submitted a complaint of unabated illegal mining to the Chief Minister Helpline number on Saturday.

Meanwhile, local environmentalists have been flagging a complete ban in the area. They alleged that Punjab’s mining mafia had been looting the minerals worth crores of rupees, but the authorities were silent on the menace. They claimed that after the ban on mining in neighbouring Punjab, stone crushers of Punjab were taking away raw material for their crushers by using JCB machines at night from the Indora area.

The Indora police said after the registration of a case, the police had begun investigating the matter.