The Rohtas administration, acting on the state government’s instruction, has launched a special drive against unabated illegal mining in the district.

On the first day of the drive on Wednesday, a team of senior officials, led by district magistrate Sandeep Kumar R. Pudakalkatti and superintendent of police Vikas Berman, demolished installations of 35 illegal stone crushing units operating in Dhamanpura, Neema and Gopibigha villages of the district, about 165km west of Patna.

During the raid, stone chips worth Rs 6 crore and five crusher machines were seized. The district magistrate said the licences of 194 crusher units were cancelled last month after the state pollution board revoked no-objection certificates.

Pudakalkatti added that the drive would continue in the coming days and the licences of more such units would be cancelled.

“The process of confiscation of the seized goods has been started and officials have been asked to complete the formalities at the earliest,” he added.

This is the first major operation launched by the Rohtas district administration against illegal mining after Pudakalkatti assumed charge. “A list of illegal crusher units has been prepared and action has been initiated against them accordingly,” the district magistrate said.

He said instructions have been issued to the station house officers (SHOs) of the police stations concerned to keep a vigil on activities of the mining mafia.

At the same time, the SHOs have been warned of stern action if the allegations of their links with the mafia were found to be true, he added.

Earlier, the administration had issued notices to the owners of the crusher units asking them to shut their operations and remove the camp offices as well as equipment from the sites.

“The owners were told to remove the installations and equipment from their sites by the end of April,” a senior official said. He added that after the deadline lapsed, the administration initiated the drive and so far 35 crusher units have been sealed.