YAMUNANAGAR, GURUGRAM-NUH, AMBALA TOP LIST IN HARYANA

Illegal mining is continuously being carried out in several districts of Haryana, particularly those adjoining Yamuna River and those falling in National Capital Region.

According to a data tabled here in the Assembly session, 1727 FIRs were reported in the past three years, including transportation of minerals without valid documents.

Yamunanagar district is on top of the list in terms of illegal mining with 582 FIRs being filed during a period of three years.

Gurugram and Nuh districts stand on the second position with 414 FIRs, followed by Ambala, Mahendergarh and Sonipat districts with 173, 141 and 113 cases, respectively.

Panchkula, Kurukshetra, Panipat-Karnal, Faridabad-Palwal and Charkhi Dadri districts are also on the list with 75, 41, 39, 38 and 31 cases, respectively.

Reacting to an accident at a mining spot in Dadal (Bhiwani), Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal said in the Assembly session on Monday that the state government was leaving no stone unturned to tackle the issue of illegal mining. Three committees have already been formed for a transparent inquiry.

Congress leader Kiran Chaudhary said incidents of illegal mining are being reported from across the state and the state government should come up with a strategy to control the matter.

An amount of Rs 133.82 crore has been imposed on those beaching the norms in the past three years. As many as 2020 vehicles were seized in 2019-20, followed by 3515 in 2020-21 and 2192 in 2021-22.

The issue of illegal mining has long been a talk of the town in the state as the department concerned failed to take strong action against the criminals. The functioning of the police department has also been under scanner in several incidents and Mining Minister Moolchand Sharma had sought the intervention of Home Minister Anil Vij into the matter in 2020.