Illegal mining: GMDC to take police help in crackdown

The raids,which started last Friday,were headed by Superintending Geologist Bharat Dave.

Fines amounting to Rs 33.91 lakh were imposed on the lease holders for illegally mining sand along with dolomite from Sankheda,Pavi Jetpur and Chhota Udepur talukas in the eastern flank of Vadodara district.

Rajendra Rathwa of Pavi Jetpur was fined Rs 27 lakh,while one Nirmala Katharia of Jabugam village in Sankheda was fined Rs 5.8 lakh. From neighbouring Bodeli,one Vijay Thakkar,a machine owner,was fined Rs 43,025 for putting to use two Hitachi machines for illegal mining activities in the region.

GMDC officials said that over the last two years,about Rs 2.5 crore have been served in the form of penalties for illegal sand mining after the Gujarat government came out with the policy for mining dolomite.

Dave said: “The fines have been imposed on them as most of them did not have the requisite permission to mine sand from the region,while some of them did not renew their licenses.”

Meanwhile,a private mineral plant in Chhota Udepur is under the scanner for allegedly processing dolomite. “We will get support from the local police officials,as the raids progress this week,” said Dave.

He,however,refused to divulge the details about the plant in the taluka bordering Madhya Pradesh.

A senior police officer from Chhota Udepur said,though formal requests have not been made,the police is ready to help out the GMDC vigilance raids.