The district administration has identified several villages as ‘sensitive’ due to their alleged involvement in illegal mining activities, raising concerns over the persistence of the lucrative but unlawful trade despite ongoing efforts.
According to officials of the Mines and Geology Department, villages such as Kathgarh, Swabari, Bhagwanpur, Belgarh, Tajewala, Doiwala, Ballewala, Ibrahimpur, Mohidinpur, Tapu Majri, Bibipur, Nagli-32 and several other villages are under close surveillance.
These areas, many of which are located near the Yamuna river and seasonal rivulets, frequently witness illegal extraction of boulders, gravel and sand.
Sources revealed that most illegal mining operations were carried out during night hours to evade detection.
“The abundance of raw materials in the riverbeds throughout the year makes these locations attractive for mining mafias, who allegedly supply stolen raw mining minerals (a mixture of boulders, gravel and sand) to local screening plants. After processing raw mining minerals, the screening plants supply boulders to stone crushers,” sources said.
Sources added that in addition to riverbed mining, illegal extraction was also reported on private agricultural land as some farmers lease out their land to mining operators for short durations in exchange for large sums of money, even in areas where mining is strictly prohibited.
It is believed that stricter enforcement in Yamunanagar has pushed some illegal operations across Yamuna river into neighbouring Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, which shares the border with Haryana.
In a recent development, Saharanpur district police registered an FIR on April 14 against owners of nine stone crushers from Yamunanagar, along with unidentified operators of tractor-trolleys, tippers and earthmoving machinery. The case involves the alleged theft of over 87,000 metric tonnes of mining mineral from government land and the Yamuna riverbed in Aslampur Bartha village.
Meanwhile, the Yamunanagar district administration, under the leadership of Deputy Commissioner Preeti and Superintendent of Police Kamaldeep Goyal, has stepped up its efforts to curb the menace.
Measures include the establishment of 20 check posts across the district and the formation of eight inter-departmental teams tasked with monitoring illegal mining, transportation and overloading.
Providing details of the action taken so far, Assistant Mining Engineer of Yamunanagar district Dr Rajesh Kumar said that 53 FIRs related to illegal mining were registered between January 1 and March 31.
He said that during the same period, authorities seized 260 vehicles involved in illegal mining and illegal transportation of mining minerals.
Currently, the district has two operational mining sites for boulder, gravel and sand along with three sand mining sites functioning under legal permissions.
