Mining gangsters attack forest officials

While Forest Guard Devinder Singh sustained serious head injuries,Deputy Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Baldev Singh and Block Forest Officer (BFO) Karnail Singh managed to escape,Conservator of Forests Praveen Kumar told Newsline here today.

The Forest officials were on a night vigil in Bari Karoran village around 7.30 pm to check the illegal mining of sand,which was reportedly on the rise for the past sometime. The mining of sand is prohibited under Section 11 (5) of the Land Conservation Act,1900,in the areas covered under the Forest Act on the Mohali outskirts.

“As the Forest officials were on the lookout for the gangsters indulging in illegal mining,a group of six persons,equipped with deadly weapons launched a violent attack,” said Kumar,while informing that Forest Guard Devinder Singh fell in the trap of the gangsters,who assaulted him badly and left profusely bleeding from head.

The gangsters,who have been identified as Mansa Singh,Chintu,Bittu,Kuldeep Singh,Ghungra and Pal Singh from Tanda and Karoran villages,threatened the Forest officials with dire consequences if they dared to check their illegal mining in future,Kumar said.

While the seriously injured Forest Guard Devinder Singh was admitted at Mohali Civil Hospital,a police complaint was lodged against the gangsters at the local police station.

Kumar,meanwhile,warned all those indulging in illegal sand mining to immediately stop their operations without delay otherwise get ready to face stringent action.

Bus driver,conductor hurt

KHARAR: A bus of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation was attacked on the Mohali-Kharar stretch of National Highway-21 near Desumajra village here late last evening. While the bus driver and conductor were left injured,the bus was also damaged in the attack,the police said here today. Bus driver Kamal Kumar of Kangra in Himachal Pradesh,who was admitted at hospital for treatment,told the police that he was driving the bus from Chandigarh to Palampur and at Desumajra village,he stopped the bus on the conductor’s whistle. “When the bus was stationary,a car coming from behind rammed into the bus and soon the occupants of the said car and another car that also halted at the spot pulled us out of the bus and thrashed badly without any provocation and pelted the bus with stones before fleeing away,” he said. The police have booked the unknown occupants of two cars bearing Mohali and Delhi registration numbers under Sections 353,323,186 and 427 of the IPC.