Police on toes after illegal mining alert on river bank

Ludhiana: The mining department approached the police after detecting signs of illegal mining along the banks of the Satluj river in Ludhiana. The department has found up to 18ft deep marks of excavation of sand, besides tracks of earthmoving machines and vehicles used to transport sand.
The department did not find any machinery and vehicles at the sites, which indicates that the illegal mining was carried out at night.The mining department lodged a police complaint and two separate cases were registered at Koom Kalan police station.
The department also shared coordinates of the precise location of illegal mining sites at Balliewal and Chaunta villages with the police. Officials said that a legal mining site was located at Balliewal village but it was closed for some reason. However, fresh signs of mining were observed in agricultural fields.
Junior engineer/mining inspector Pankaj Verma and Aman Thakur of mining department urged the police to register cases against landowners and others engaged in illegal sand mining.
For now, cases have been registered against unidentified persons. Police have written to the revenue department, seeking details of the landowners. A case was registered under Section 303 of the BNS Act and 21 of the Mining Act. Another was filed under Section 303 (2) of the BNS Act and 21 of the mining Act.
An official of the department official said that they had received a tip-off about illegal sand mining being carried out at these locations. Teams of the mining department, comprising a junior engineer of the department, along with an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) and constable of the police station concerned visited the sites. A source from the teams said, “We found several pits up to 18 feet at the sites. It seems that illegal mining was being done in the villages for the past four days.”
He added, “The pits were found in agricultural land. We have shared coordinates of locations with the police and asked them to register cases against the owner of the land and those who carried out the illegal sand mining. Now, it is the duty of the police to identify the owner of land and other accused.”
Inspector Kulbeer Singh, SHO, Koom Kalan police station, said, “We have written to the patwari concerned to inform us about the owner of the land. He was busy on Thursday so we expect some development in the case on Friday.”