Ranchi: A day after chief minister Raghubar Das directed industries, mines and geology department secretary Sunil Kumar Barnwal to take concrete measures against illegal mining, especially of sand and stone, in Santhal Pargana, the senior bureaucrat on Sunday met DCs, SPs and other senior officials of all six districts under the division, Dumka, Godda, Pakur, Sahebganj, Jamtara and Deoghar, and asked them to intensify raids.
At the meeting at district rural development authority (DRDA) conference hall in Dumka, Barnwal said, "Illegal mining ought to stop henceforth. This is our chief minister's order."
He said the use of machines for sand mining was not permissible, irrespective of whe-ther that particular balughat (sand bank) had been auctioned off or not, and demanded the machines be seized.
The DCs and SPs were directed to form special crack teams within 15 days to regularly conduct surprise raids. The crack teams would also swoop in on illegal stone crusher units.
The respective DCs and SPs were asked to ensure special police teams were available with district mining officers to conduct raids on receiving intelligence reports of illegal mining.
"We have learnt that illegally mined sand and stones are being dumped for sale at certain places. Also, there are complaints that illegally mined sand from Bengal cross Jharkhand for sale in other parts of the country. All challans (documents) should carefully be verified. The seized machines, vehicles and raw materials would be auctioned off," the mines secretary told the media in Dumka.
Barnwal also said that persons caught carrying out illegal mining on forestland would also be booked under different sections of Forest Act. He urged people to call up toll-free helplines 100 and 181 and inform the state about illegal mining cases, if any, in their areas. "The chief minister regularly reviews the status of complaints received at 181," Barnwal, also the CM's secretary, said.
Deoghar district mining officer Babulal Rajak was suspended for going out of the district headquarter without prior intimation or permission by a competent authority.
