Uttarakhand nails 2 mining kingpins after Oppn attacks

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The Uttarakhand police on Thursday arrested two mining mafia kingpins and ordered a probe against constable Lalit Joshi, who had allegedly colluded with them.

"One of the alleged kingpins, Amir Khan, had also photographed himself wearing a police cap and sitting on Joshi's chair in a police chowki. Joshi has been transferred from Doiwala chowki," Additional Director-General of Police R S Meena told Business Standard.

Last week, Chief Minister Harish Rawat had allegedly transferred Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sadanand Date under pressure from mining mafias. The SSP had been taking strong action against illegal mining in Haridwar district.

The Opposition immediately attacked the government's move. "This clearly shows that the government is hands-in-glove with the mining mafias in the state," said leader of the Opposition Ajay Bhatt. He asked the government to immediately take steps to stop illegal mining in the state.

In July, the chief minister, while reviewing a meeting of the mining department, had asserted that the mining policy would be amended to make laws more stringent in order to stop illegal mining.

Rawat had also said the government would not allow mining on private lease in future as part of the strategy to stop illegal mining. But the government has been repeatedly coming under attack from the opposition for widespread illegal mining of sand and other small minerals in the state, especially in Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts.

On the other hand, the government had been repeatedly amending the mining policy since 2012. But the allegations of illegal mining are still persisting. Under the mining policy, the government claims it can earn revenue of Rs 400 crore through the tendering process. Currently, the government earns only Rs 100-Rs 150 crore through the old policy.

In a new amendment, district magistrates have also been given powers to give mining rights on up to five acres to local youth.

The mining business provides employment opportunities to thousands of people in the state where the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation (UFDC), the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) are the three government agencies which carry out the mining.

Under the new policy, UFDC has been mandated to carry out mining in 7,000 hectares of reserved forest. Outside the reserve forest, 1,000 hectares have been allocated to GMVN while KMVN has been given the right to mine only on 250 hectares. In the remaining civil areas, the government used to give the right of mining to private parties, which has often led to widespread illegal mining.

UNDER SIEGE

* Last week, Chief Minister Harish Rawat had allegedly transferred Haridwar SSP Sadanand Date under the pressure of mining mafias

* In July, Rawat had said the mining policy would be amended to make the laws more stringent to curb illegal mining

* Under the existing mining policy, the government claims it can earn revenue of Rs 400 crore through tendering process. Currently, the govt earns only Rs 100-Rs 150 crore through the old policy