Forest officers detained,manhandled

The incident took place late on Wednesday evening and was fourth such attack in almost a year,once again exposing the rampant illegal mining continuing on the periphery of Chandigarh.

On a tip-off,the team led by Forest Range Officer Balwinder Singh had gone to Tanda-Karoran village near Nayagaon,adjoining Chandigarh,to check the illegal mining of rocks from a river bed.“When we reached Suresh Farm House in Tanda village,six-odd people detained us inside the farmhouse for almost 45 minutes,abused,manhandled and threatened us before we somehow managed to free ourselves,” said Singh. The mining of sand and rocks was prohibited under Section 11 (5) of the Land Conservation Act,1900,in the areas covered under the Forest Act on Mohali outskirts.

A case of assault,obstructing public servant from discharge of official duty and criminal intimidation under relevant Sections of the IPC and offences punishable under various Sections of the Land Conservation Act has been registered in this connection. However,no arrest was confirmed as yet.

In September,May and January last,a couple of forest officials were left seriously injured in similar attacks by gangsters when they were stopped from illegal sand mining in the area,but except registration of FIRs,no action has been taken against the accused yet.