Hills that cry: A hill bears the brunt of illegal mining in Gaya. Picture by Suman

Gaya, April 17: Illegal stone crushers in Gaya have almost wiped out portions of hills like Ramshila, Pretshila, Brahmayoni, Murli, Katari, Gurupadgiri and Khajwatti.

Gaya has thousands of acres of hills and the district is also a supplier of stone chips to other parts of the state. This has led to illegal mining and growth of illegal stone crushers.

However, after Archaeological Survey of India declared Ramshila, Brahmayoni, Pretshila and Gurupadgiri as protected, owing to historical, religious and archaeological importance, the administration has banned mining in these hills. Blocks of other hills are lent on lease or auctioned for mining. At present, mining of the hills like Karjara and Bodhchak under Wazirganj block, Mirzapur, Gere and Bhindas under Manpur and Kosma under Chandauti block of the district is being done. Blocks of these hills have either been lent on lease to an individual or a business firm. Auction of the hill blocks earns revenue for the state exchequer.

However, the leaseholders cross their demarcated area leading to illegal mining. Similarly, illegal stone crushers too have flourished in the district where illegally mined stones are crushed into stone chips used in construction of buildings and roads. Magadh division commissioner Vivek Kumar Singh told The Telegraph a stone crusher requires a no-objection certificate from the forest and environment department and the pollution control board.

To check the illegal stone crushers, the mining department officials had launched an operation a month back during which more than 50 crushers were demolished. But the arrest of two mining department officials and two officials of a road construction company has revealed corruption in the mining department.

Huge amount of cash, ornaments, demand draft, bonds and fixed deposit papers worth around Rs 56 lakh were recovered from the Chanakyapuri residence of mining inspector Shyamdeo Narayan Singh posted in Gaya. The mining officer of Gaya, Shambhu Prasad Sahu and two officials of Gammon India Limited were also arrested.

A team of officials comprising city superintendent of police Ratnamani Sanjeev, trainee Indian Police Service officer Babu Ram, sadar sub-divisional officer Paritosh Kumar, city deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Pankaj Rawat and law and order DSP Imteyaz Ahmad had conducted raids at the hotel and arrested Sahu while accepting Rs 25,000 from the officials of Gammon India Limited. All the officials including Sahu and Shyamdeo Narayan Singh of mining department and Gammon India Limited officials B.K. Singh and Prabhat Ranjan have been taken into custody.

All the arrested officials have been handed over to the vigilance department.