ACB raids 10 locations of Mining officials, relatives, others; ACB Tighten the Noose Against Mining Mafia.

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KATHUA, APRIL 13:- To tighten its noose against the mining mafia, Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths today raided 10 locations including residences of Mining officers, officials, crusher owners and dealers in Kathua and Jammu districts and seized the vital records from there.

The raids were simultaneously conducted in Kathua as well as Jammu at the residence of then DMO Mining Kathua, his relatives and links.

The raids were conducted at the residence of
then DMO Kathua, Raj Kumar, son of late Chuni Lal at Netar Kothian Barnai, residence of Kishore Kumar, son of late Chuni Lal of Lale Da Bagh Jammu, residential house of an adhoc employee in DMO Office Kathua, house of Vinay Verma, son of Roshan Lal a Mining dealer in Sector 7 , Trikuta Nagar Jammu, residential house of Davinder Kumar, son of Darshan Kumar, near Sub District Hospital Kathua, residential house of Pawan Kumar, son of Bhagat Ram in Keerian Gandiyal, Kathua, residential house of Bhanu Partap Singh, son of Pyar Singh at village Tarda (Mehtabpur) Kathua, residential house of Naresh Kumar, son of Bagh Ram of Gajay Singh Pura Jammu and residential house of Kapil Kumar, son of Prem Chand of Mohalla Paharian, Jammu.

The raids were conducted by a team of ACB from Jammu headed by senior officers.

It may be recalled that there was a hue and cry in Kathua district against the illegal mining and looting the resources of J&K especially by mining mafia from Punjab in league with mining officials and local mafia.

The people in Keeriyan Gandyal have taken several deputations in past to the higher ups in the Government with the plea to save the flora and fauna in the area which is under constant threat due to illegal mining as the water level in Ravi river bed has depleted 150 feet down leading to severe water crisis as the tube wells and hand pumps in the area have constantly dried up.

The people alleged that illegal mining goes in the rivers of Ravi, and Ujh at Keeriyan Gandyal, Pandori Nagri and Kour Pannu besides in Tanna river especially near the spot where the bridge over the river had earlier collapsed.

The mining mafia of Punjab is mainly involved and there is no check on the same, said Prem Nath Dogra former Councillor Municipality, Kathua. He said people are now fed up as many times protests were held by them seeking ban on illegal mining but to no avail.

He said over Rs 150 crore bridge constructed at Keeriyan Gandyal on Ravi river is also facing threat from mining mafia as river bed near the abetments of the bridge has been dug by the illegal miners.
There is such a nexus between mafia and officials that even lease deeds are being violated and if a contractor has sought lease of one block, he digs the river bed at number of places and extracts mining material including sand, stones and bajri.

Maintaining that there is no check on illegal mining, Gulshan Kumar of Basantpur said that if a person gets lease order for Billawar he extracts mining material from Ravi or Ujh in Kathua or Nagri.

Moreover, maximum crusher owners have not installed the weigh bridges which they are supposed to do to weight the loaded vehicles. This all is going under very nose of the Mining Department, he added.
The mining mafia is scot free and they use both legal and illegal routes, he said. Even there is no check on load. Some dumpers carry even double load than what is prescribed, he added.

Hundreds of truck loads of mining material are daily excavated from rivers of Kathua especially by the mafia from Punjab who have also installed crushers illegally in J&K area, he added.