Minister orders crackdown on illegal mining; directs to confiscate vehicles used for illegal mining
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
With an aim at cracking down on illegal mining, Punjab Mining and Geology Minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria on Monday ordered stringent action against those indulged in the illegal practice, during a high-level meeting with DGP, Punjab Dinkar Gupta and other senior officials of the Mining Department. He asked the DGP to instruct all the SSPs to deal severely with illegal miners and vehicle owners indulged in illegal mining.
Presiding over the meeting, Sarkaria said that Mining department had received reports of illegal mining from some parts of the state, which had led to heavy losses to the state exchequer and needed to be checked on priority.
Directing the DGP to take strict action against the illegal miners, the Minister also warned that strict action would also be taken against those land owners whose land is being illegally mined. He also directed that those vehicles must be confiscated, which are being used for illegal mining. He categorically said that no political interference would be tolerated at all. Sarkaria said that vehicles used for mining material must have a slip of Mining department. It is pertinent to mention that Mining Department issues slip for vehicles to carry mining material from approved sites.
The Mining Minister said that Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh led Punjab Government was fully committed to provide sand-gravels to the people at reasonable prices and for this purpose, all mining sites have been allocated through e-auction.
Minister orders crackdown on illegal mining; directs to confiscate vehicles used for illegal mining.Director (Mining) Kumar Rahul, Chief Engineer (Mining) Sanjeev Kumar Gupta and other senior officials were also present in the meeting.
