news details |
|
|
| Does Rajouri Admin allow illegal mining of stones, RBM? | | Extraction from Manawar River goes uninterrupted | |  avinash azad
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 2: Mining mafia unabatedly under the nose of district administration is mining and selling stones and river bed material (RBM) from Manawar river pass through the town illegally.
A huge quantity of extracted stone and RBM, has been dumped illegally road-side along the Valley View Army Public School (VVAPS) Panjpeer, Rajouri. However, official allotments for mining from different locations in favour of successful bidders for Rajouri district are yet to be made. This raises a question that when there is no legal contract given then, how the mining is being done broad day and night under the nose of the administration?
"The mining mafia, showing thumbs to concerned authorities and the district administration, near Panjpeer, operating like any other (fruit-vegetable) mandis" said a local activist. "Few small signboards with contact numbers of the person who owns the hugely accumulated quantity of stones and RMB along the chair for dealers has been kept at the site, indicating that the business is being done unabatedely and that too during the day hours. The material for the site is being extracted from Salani Bridge area, and most of the extraction takes place in night hours" he further added. "I called on the number written on the sign board just to confirm if they are doing the business, the person on the other side replied to my question that he is selling a dumper of RBM for 3200 rupees excluding the carriage", he narrated and added that their business goes all day and night.
"At another site, the illegal business going on is another part of the Manawar river, near Dhangri area of the Rajouri district where men and machinery extract stone and other material daily without any hurdle. There are at least two dozen stone crushers on this river from Darhal to Nowshera sub-division" said a local news reporter. "Unholy, nexus between the district administration and mining mafia can be gauged from the fact that operation of these stone crushers never stopped even for a single day" he further added.
J S Pawar, district mining officer Rajouri when contacted said that due to shortage of required manpower and allied infrastructure, the department is facing problems in curbing the menace of illegal mining. "We keep a vigil in day time, but it is not possible for us to carry out a drive during night hours, as the possibility of attack from the mafia on our team has taken place in past", he said, and added, "Safety of my staff is my primary concern".
It is pertinent to mention here that a Special Task Force was constituted by Jammu and Kashmir Government to curb illegal mining on the banks of River Tawi with Addl DC (Law & Order) Jammu as its chairman, SP Hqrs Jammu, Assistant Conservator of Forests Jammu and District Mineral Officer (DMO) Jammu as its members.
The team to some extent has discouraged the mining mafia and hundreds of vehicles and machines engaged mining and transportation have seized in some parts of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, but the same commitment seems to be missing in Rajouri. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
