Despite the efforts of the Manohar lal Khattar Government in Haryana to put an end to the menace of illegal mining, sand mafia is still active in various parts of the State.
As many as 892 cases of illegal mining including transportation of mineral without valid documents came to the notice till September last year in the state, as per the available data with the Haryana Government.
Taking action against the violators, 116 FIRs were registered and a penalty of Rs 160.78 lakh has been realized by the government till September 2017. In previous fiscal 2016-17, 1963 cases of illegal mining came to the notice of the government while 121 FIRs were registered.
To keep a check on illegal mining, the State Government had constituted district level task forces. During the current financial year, the State Government had also initiated a special drive to curb the transportation of illegally mined mineral coming into the state from the adjoining states including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. Several inter states nakas were also formed to keep a check on such vehicles.
As on February 2018, 88 number of mines were allocated by the government out of total 119 mines. Out of the allocated, 57 mines are stated to be operational, as per government’s records.
Notably, the state had earned the highest ever revenue of Rs 510.63 crore from the mining contracts/ leases during the year 2017-18 (upto December 2017).
The Chief Minister Manohar lal had in a recent meeting directed the administrative secretaries that illegal mining and over loading should be dealt with an iron hand and legal action should be taken against offenders and heavy penalties should be imposed to curb such activities.
The opposition- Congress and Indian National lok Dal- have on several occasions, alleged involvement of BJP leaders, including MPs and MlAs, in illegal mining in the state. The issue was also raised in the budget session of Haryana, where some opposition MlAs had demanded an inquiry by Central Bureau of Investigation into the mining scam.
Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar had earlier this week also alleged a mining scam of Rs 3 lakh crore in the state.
Putting forth videos and RTI documents to corroborate his claims, Tanwar had said, “The practice of illegal minimum is rampant in Yamunanagar and other parts of Haryana. A mining scam of worth Rs 3 lakh crore has happened in Haryana.”
The Congress leader had also said that the party will write to the Chief Minister and Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki urging them to order a probe into the scam and take a strict against those involved in illegal mining.
However, the Minister of State, Mines and Geology, Nayab Saini had termed these allegations as “misleading” and “false”.
