Truck laden with 'illegal' mining material rams into house in Ropar village

Ropar, December 26

A family managed to escape unhurt when a truck loaded with mining material rammed into the wall of their house around midnight at Bindrakh village yesterday.

The truck belonged to a nearby screening plant and was allegedly ferrying mining material dug up illegally from a piece of land in the adjoining Kheri village.

The truck driver, Sukhdarshan Singh, said he had been ferrying the mining material from Kheri to the screening plant for one and a half months at night. Notably, there is complete ban on mining in the area.

Mohan Singh, the owner of the damaged house, said that at 12.30 am, when he and his family members were sleeping, a truck driver lost control of his vehicle and hit a wall of his home, damaging it badly. “A wheel of the truck had gotten stuck in the open drain near the wall, due to which we escaped unhurt,” he said.

The truck driver had initially stated that he had been ferrying the mining material after digging from the land in Kheri during night to a nearby screening plant for the last one and a half months. He also said sometimes locals had objected to the mining, but no government officials had stopped them.

Later, however, he started claiming that he had brought the material from Haryana.

Avtar Singh Pappi, a resident of Bindrakh, said a large number of trucks loaded with mining material pass through the village throughout the night despite the fact that there was a complete ban on mining in the area.

Mining Department SDO Shyam Verma said that a case had already been lodged with the police regarding illegal mining at this piece of land in Kheri. “Today, a complaint has been lodged regarding the incident and an investigation has been initiated to ascertain the source of the material loaded on the truck,” he said.