Mohali panchayat booked for illegal mining

During the course of inquiry,revenue officials from the sub-tehsil Mazri conducted the demarcation of the river bed and reported that the area,where the youths had drowned,fell under the jurisdiction of Dhakoran Kalan village and the land in question was owned by the village panchayat.

The mining officer,in his report to the police,said the Mining department had not given any contract for mining from the site,and it was probably the village panchayat which was responsible for illegal mining and keeping the pits open.

The police have registered a case under Section 4(1) of the Mining and Mineral Regulation Act,1957,against Dhakoran Kalan village panchayat on the statement of the mining officer. No arrests,have however,been made yet.

On Monday,Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had directed Mohali SSP to act tough against all those involved in illegal mining and encroachments on government land across the district in Chandigarh’s periphery.

On the evening of July 7,cousins Sanjay Kumar (15) and Deep Singh (16) and their friend Navneet Sagar (10) drowned in a pit filled with water while another boy was saved after his friends pulled him.

Meanwhile,in another case of illegal mining,the local police booked 10 persons — Ajmer Singh,Ujjagar Singh,Karnail Singh,Ram Asra,Bhag Singh,Pal Singh,Gurmeet Kaur,Raghbeer Singh,Mohan Lal of Kandala village and Ujjagar Singh of Mauli Baidwan village.

On the complaint of the mining officer,the police registered a case under Section 379 (theft) of the IPC and Section 4(1) of the Mining and Mineral Regulation Act,1957. No arrests have been made in this case,too.