Mining mafia active even during lockdown restrictions
Notwithstanding the claims of the Government, the mining
mafia is active even during the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown restrictions with
majority of incidents taking place in Doda, Kathua and Shopian and sporadic
ones in the rest of the districts. This is mainly because of lack of
coordination among all the concerned agencies and inadequate check posts of the
Geology and Mining Department.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that lockdown imposed to
check spread of Novel Coronavirus has failed to curb the activities of the mining
mafia, which is continuously making attempts to rob the mineral wealth as per
their convenience thereby causing huge loss to the exchequer of the J&K
Union Territory.
As per the reports, majority of incidents are taking place
at late in the evening or in the wee hours despite the fact that during this
period there remains curfew as per the orders of the Union Ministry of Home
Affairs and Government of J&K UT.
Though majority of illegal mining incidents have come to the
fore from Doda, Kathua and Shopian districts yet other areas of the J&K
Union Territory too have witnessed activities of the mining mafia albeit not at
large scale, the reports further said while disclosing that in Doda district
major activities of the mining mafia have been noticed in Thathri Sub-Division.
They disclosed that residents of Phagsoo Jangalwar brought
to the notice of all the concerned authorities a number of times that illegal
mining was taking place in their area particularly near the temple of Baba
Budhi Dass Jangalwar but till date no action has been taken.
Moreover, authorities including the Thathri Police Station
were informed a number of times about illegal mining in Shibnote area but
activities have not been stopped till date much to the disappointment of the
people, who have also shared with EXCELSIOR the videos clearly depicting the
extent of illegal mining.
Similarly, the people of various parts of Kathua have been
protesting against the illegal mining during the past many days. They have also
been voicing serious concern over the failure of the concerned authorities to
control the activities of the mafia.
“The reports about seizure of vehicles and registration of
FIR from the Shopian and some other districts of Kashmir valley also clearly
indicate that lockdown restrictions have failed to curb the activities of
mining mafia”, sources said, adding “it is a matter of serious concern that
while there are restrictions over the movement of common masses the mining
mafia is having a field day”.
It is pertinent to mention here that in a meeting held on
April 21, 2020, the Director of Geology and Mining Department had raised the
issue of illegal mining activities being noticed even during the lockdown.
Accordingly, the Commissioner Secretary to Government, Industries and Commerce
Department had asked him to take up the matter with the Divisional Commissioner
and Inspector General of Police of Jammu and Kashmir Divisions seeking their
intervention towards curbing the menace of illegal mining.
“However, the ground situation has largely remained
unchanged”, sources said, adding “had there been enough coordination among all
the concerned agencies like administration of districts concerned, Geology and
Mining Department’s field teams and Police Department the illegal mining could have
been curbed completely”.
They further said, “though Geology and Mining Department is
trying its level best to control the activities of mafia but in the absence of
adequate manpower and check posts the mafia is succeeding in carrying out
illegal activities”.
When contacted, Director of Geology and Mining Department
Vikas Sharma said, “whenever the incident of illegal mining comes to our notice
we immediately activate our field staff and pass on information to the
concerned police as well as district administration”, adding “we are trying to
complete the process of allotting mining blocks as early as possible so that
there remains no space for mining mafia to carry out illegal activities”.
In response to a question, the Director said, “it is a fact
that at many places we don’t have check posts but the same will be ready within
next few months”, adding “we are hopeful that within next three-four months our
efforts to curb the illegal activities will start yielding desirable results”.
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