Patna, July 13: The district mining officer of Purnea has lodged a written complaint with the district magistrate against BJP MLA Vijay Kumar Khemka for allegedly threatening him for taking action against people involved in illegal mining activities.

The district administration is probing the matter.

The complaint was made after Vijay met mining officer Motiur Rahman on July 10 and allegedly asked him not to take action against those conducting the business of sand and stone chips without licence from the mining department.

"I have submitted a written complaint to the district magistrate regarding the incident in which the BJP MLA threatened me with dire consequences for taking action against those carrying out business of sand and stone chips without licence. He has assured me of suitable action in the matter," Motiur said.

Sources said the district administration has launched a crackdown on illegal mining activities in which sand, gravel and stone chips were being brought from Jharkhand and Bengal to Purnea in overloaded vehicles and were being hoarded and traded by unscrupulous elements without having licence from the mining department. The overloaded vehicles were damaging roads, while the unlicensed traders were not paying any commercial taxes on their trade leading to revenue loss to the state exchequer. The administration lodged 75 FIRs against such persons in the past one month.

District magistrate Pankaj Kumar Pal said: "We have received the complaint and we are getting the matter investigated by a joint team of a sub-divisional officer (sadar) and a sub-divisional police officer (sadar). Till then, I would not comment on the issue."

Pankaj added that a vehicle and a bodyguard have been provided to the mining officer as he had been demanding it for the past few weeks owing to the nature of his work and the fact that he had to go alone to several places.

"His (mining officer) complaint is false and baseless. I had met him on July 10 and said the small retailers of sand and stone chips were not aware of the need for licence and the procedure to obtain it. So it would be better to inform them first and then hold a camp to grant them licenses," Vijay told The Telegraph.

The Purnea MLA added that he had requested Motiur to provide relief to the small traders from raids till the time licences were facilitated for them.

"All this I had done because the small retailers of sand and stone chips had called upon me and requested me to intervene and save their livelihood. I did not ask the mining officer to do anything unlawful or illegal. Is representing the problems of the public to the government a crime?" Vijay asked.

The MLA added that he would bring a privilege motion against the mining officer.