Crusher owners, tipper drivers hold protest against Mining Department near Garhshankar

Our Correspondent

Garhshankar , June 19

Crusher owners and tipper drivers carrying sand-gravel from bordering areas of Himachal Pradesh blocked the road for two hours at the Mining Department check-post on the Punjab-Himachal border, near Garhshankar. They alleged that hefty challans were being issued to them for overloading at the weighing scales set up by Mining Department on the Punjab-Himachal border adjoining Garhshankar.

The protesters, shouting slogans, were accusing the Mining Department officials of acting like ‘goons’ and seeking money illegally from them.

Getting information, DSP Garhshankar Satish Kumar,SHO Garhshankar Iqbal Singh, and police post Beenwal in-charge Satwinder Singh reached the spot and spoke to the protesters. They persuaded them to handover a memorandum to the SDM, Garhshankar.

Some of the protesters, while talking to reporters, said in the area of Kot Maira village, extortion was being done by the Mining Department in the name of overloading from vehicle owners going to various cities of Punjab carrying sand-gravel from crushers located in Himachal Pradesh.

They alleged that officials of the Mining Department deployed there charge arbitrary fines, adding that these officials take money from some drivers and allow them to go without weighing their vehicles. Residents of the surrounding villages said due to overloaded tippers, frequent accidents occurred in the area.

All allegations are false: Mining inspectors

When asked about it by mediapersons, Mining Department Inspectors Ajay Pandey and Harminder Singh said the allegations that the crusher owners and tipper drivers were levelling, are baseless. They said the check post had been established according to the instructions of the government. The challans to overloaded vehicles were issued by the Regional Transport Authority and the allegations of letting the vehicles to go after accepting the money from the drivers, are completely false.

An Assistant Sub Inspector on behalf of the Regional Transport Authority, said the tipper drivers and the crusher owners indulge themselves in hooliganism. He alleged that even today during the demonstration, they tried to attack officials of the Mining Department.