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| Yet another illegal stone crusher comes up along Ujh River | | ADC Kathua in slumber | |  Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 12: Under the nose of district administration Kathua, another stone crusher has come up along the banks of Ujh River over agriculture land. This is an addition to the long list of illegal crushers in the district, locals said adding the number has gone up to sixty.
According to the documents in possession of Early Times the office of Assistant Executive Engineer, Irrigation Sub Division Billawar vide letter number ISD/B/298, dated 1/1/2019 had forwarded a communiqué to Additional Deputy Commissioner Billawar regarding illegal installation of stone crusher.
"Ashok Kumar, S/o Isher Dass resident of Dher Tehsil Billawar is installing a stone crusher in the name of "Varun Dev Stone Crusher", in river Ujh near the head site of Dramni Lift Irrigation System (LIS) without taking any no objection certificate (NOC) from Irrigation department", it reads.
It further states, "The stone crusher is in the alignment of supply channel of Dramni LIS and as per present profile of bed of Ujh River it is not feasible to restore the supply of water in Dramni LIS by shifting the supply channel on the downside of the crusher". The AEE Irrigation had asked the ADC office to take further action, which in turn forwarded the application to Deputy Commissioner office Kathua but to no avail.
AEE Irrigation Ranbir Singh Jamwal said that they have not given the NOC for the installation of stone crusher to Ashok Kumar.
But surprisingly, the stone crusher owner has already installed conveyer belts, machinery, constructed foundations as well as other necessary structures for the stone crusher. "Even power supply available to Lift Irrigation Scheme (LIS) can easily be used by the crusher operator", a local said, adding that without necessary permission, if a stone crusher operator has installed the machinery, then the involvement of higher officials could not be ruled out.
An official questioned the failure of the concerned authorities including the Geology and Mining department to dismantle the crusher. He said some officials of department have been lenient against the violation.
ADC Billawar Joginder Singh was not available for comments.
Pertinent to mention, over 60 stone crushers are running illegally in Kathua. This was revealed in response to a RTI application. |
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