Private construction company booked for illegal mining in Rajouri

Shyam Sood

Rajouri, Jan 20: District Rajouri police have booked a private construction company, engaged in the vital project of widening of Rajouri-Thanamandi-Bafliaz road, for indulging in the illegal mining & extraction of material from a river bed in the Thanamandi tehsil.
A Thanamandi police station team in Rajouri district headed by Mohd Shokat, SHO after specific inputs about the illegal mining by Dharam Raj Contracts India Pvt. Ltd, conducted raids at different locations and seized one Dumper & One Excavator from the spot.
The police said that the company illegally extracted river bed material (RBM) from a natural source and crushed the same by a stone crusher illegally installed at village Planger (in Thanamandi tehsil).
The private company Dharam Raj Contracts India Pvt. Ltd has been engaged by the Border Roads Organization (BRO) for the road widening project of Rajouri-Thannmandi-Bafliaz road.
The company was found indulged in illegal mining from the river in Thanamandi by using the Excavator, Dumper, and other machinery which causes huge loss to the Union Territory exchequer.
It was alleged that the mining was being done without paying any royalty to the government and without any allotment of mining block thereby committing thefts of natural resources.
The company has decayed the river bed which is also causing the ecological imbalance and the level of the water has gone down, the police said.
A huge stock of crushed materials approximately 70/80 thousand metric tonnes was also found on the crusher spot during an inspection by the police.
The Police said that continuing its drive against the menace of illegal mining a multi-pronged strategy has been devised by the Thannamandi police & action was taken against a private company.
A case under section 379/431/34 IPC has been registered at the Thannamandi police station into the matter and further investigation is going on.