2 booked for illegal mining in Moga

Moga, April 10

Acting on a report, “Illegal mining on 13-acre panchayat land”, published in these columns on April 5, the Moga police have booked two persons — Jagjit Singh and Sukhwinder Singh — for carrying out illegal activity, said a senior police official here today.

An FIR has been registered against them under Sections 379 of the IPC and 21 of the Mining and Minerals Development and Regulation Act at the Kot-ise-Khan police station and further investigations were in progress. No arrest has been made so far.

A team of senior officials of the Mining; Rural Development and Panchayat; and Revenue departments had visited the village in the presence of elected representatives of the panchayat and found illegal mining activity on a piece of panchayat land.

The villagers had alleged the top soil of the fertile land worth lakhs of rupees was sold in the market to locals and brick-kilns. A stretch of the panchayat land was deeply excavated, posing risk to crop on the adjoining land.

The residents of Mandar village alleged illegal mining had been going on ther during the night time for the past few years under the patronage of the previous Congress government. “Even after the change of guard, illegal activity had continued,” claimed sarpanch Amarjit Kaur.

She said the local panchayat and village residents had sent a complaint to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann demanding legal action in this regard. She claimed the adjoining land belonging to farmers was suffering from soil erosion due to deep excavation done on the panchayat land. —