Una, August 2 - Industry Minister Harsh Vardhan Chauhan has directed the officials to take strict action against illegal mining. He stressed that the state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Thakur Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu will not tolerate illegal mining under any circumstances. Strictest action will be taken against those involved in this, so that illegal mining can be completely curbed in the state.
The Industry Minister was presiding over a meeting of district officers held in the DRDA auditorium on Friday to discuss the strategy to curb illegal mining in Una district. During this, he directed all the concerned departments including the district administration, police, mining department to take strict action against those involved in illegal mining. He said that Chief Minister Thakur Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has given clear instructions that illegal mining will not be tolerated in the state under any circumstances and strict action will be taken against those involved in it. All officers should ensure compliance of these instructions. Quick measures and long-term plans to curb illegal mining were also discussed in the meeting. Chintpurni MLA Sudarshan Bablu was also present in the meeting.
Harshvardhan Chauhan said that the state government is committed to crackdown on illegal mining in the state. For this, surveillance has been increased in every district and work will be done with special focus to curb illegal mining activities, especially in the border districts.
He said that he will talk to the Director General of Police to provide dedicated police reserve force to investigate and prevent illegal mining activities in Una. He directed the mining department officials to collect details of the number of JCB machines and their operators constituency-wise. He also stressed on proper investigation in cases of fake M-Forms.
Committee formed to study royalty collection model
The Industry Minister directed the formation of a committee at Una to study the model of ensuring royalty collection for legal mining by assigning it to a private agency through open bidding to remove anomalies in mining leases and government royalty. The committee will include Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police, all SDMs and officers of the Mining Department. The committee will study the feasibility of the model of ensuring royalty collection for legal mining by assigning it to a private agency. It will conduct an in-depth study of the states where such a system exists and submit its report to the Industry Minister within a month.
DC will conduct inter-departmental review meeting every three months
Mr Chauhan also directed the mining department to set up check posts as per the demand and in consultation with the DC. The DC will hold an inter-departmental review meeting on mining every three months. He directed the Deputy Commissioner to call all the mining lease holders and crusher owners of the district in the next meeting and give them a strict warning to stay away from illegal mining.
In the meeting, Chintpurni MLA Sudarshan Bablu gave valuable suggestions to stop illegal mining. He highlighted the damage caused to roads due to overloading of mining material and asked the officials for details of challans issued in cases of overloading. He stressed on physical verification of the material dumped at crushers and curbing cases of mining even during the mining ban period.
Deputy Commissioner Jatin Lal assured that all the instructions of the minister will be fully implemented. He reiterated his commitment to make Una district free from illegal mining. In the meeting, Superintendent of Police Rakesh Singh gave a detailed account of the steps taken by the police to stop illegal mining.
Mining Officer Neeraj Kant, while giving information about the mining situation, said that the department has provided 72 mining leases in the district and in the last financial year, revenue of more than Rs 50 crore has been earned from mining. He also informed about the action taken by the department to stop illegal mining.
State Geologist Sanjeev Sharma, SDM Una Vishwa Mohan Dev Chauhan, SDM Bangana Sonu Goyal, SDM Gagret Somil Gautam, SDM Haroli Rajiv Thakur, SDM Amb Vivek Mahajan, SDPO Dr. Vasuda Sood, SDPO Haroli Mohan Rawat, DSP Una Ajay Thakur, RTO Una Ashok Kumar, District Employment Officer Akshay Sharma, Labour Welfare Officer Aman Sharma, Labour Officer Ranbir Singh, Superintending Engineer Jal Shakti Department Una Naresh Dhiman, Range Forest Officer Una Rahul Thakur and other officers were present in the meeting.