Illegal mining: Panchkula ADC meets concerned officials

The administration has taken many efforts to curb this and has also appointed special officers to patrol the most affected areas at night. A task force too was made to look into the same in May. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar too had ordered a probe taking note of the abundance of illegal mining in the district but to no avail.
In the Thursday’s meeting, the additional deputy commissioner said that all officers should form a team in mutual coordination and conduct a joint inspection to prevent illegal mining in the district.

The district forest officers were instructed to keep an eye on the areas prone to illegal mining in their jurisdiction, especially in Kalka, and take action against illegal miners with immediate effect as soon as they receive the information. The additional deputy commissioner further asked all the officers to seize the vehicles involved in illegal mining as per the instructions of the NGT and to collect from its owners fifty per cent of the showroom price of the vehicle and fifty per cent of the value of the goods loaded therein.

A further meeting is scheduled to be held on October 11 under Divisional Officer Dipti Umashankar, in connection with the compliance of the instructions of the NGT.

Giving information in this regard, Assistant Mining Engineer Sanjay Sabharwal said that there are a total of 43 vehicles in the district whose penalty amount has not been deposited.