Illegal mining: Himachal HC directs Mandi admn to inspect 3 khuds

Expressing concern on the issue of illegal mining, the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday directed the Mandi administration to inspect the Lohara, Kansa and Suketi khuds from their origin till their merger into river Beas in Mandi town.

A division bench comprising Justice Dharam Chand Chaudhary and Justice Anoop Chitkara directed the Mandi deputy commissioner (DC), superintendent of police (SP) and district mining officer to conduct the inspection within three weeks.

Posting the matter for January 6, the court also directed that officers of the Mining, Industry, Irrigation and Public Health, Revenue and Forest departments be associated with the inspection.

The bench ordered the pradhans of the gram panchayat of Lohara and Dhaban and the president of the municipal council of Ner Chowk to remain present during the inspection of the area of these Khuds falling in their respective gram panchayats.

The HC directed the DC and the SP to resort to all coercive actions to prevent unauthorised mining, if any, in progress in these areas.

The bench passed these orders on a petition filed by Subhash Chand of Mandi who has alleged that illegal mining is going on in Mohal Tawan 231, tehsil Balh, district Mandi, for over five years in connivance with government officials, causing a loss of crores to the state exchequer.

The petitioner requested that the state may be directed to take action against the illegal mining mafia and register cases against them.

The court also directed the inspection team to find out whether any unauthorised extraction of mines and minerals has been done, and if so, whether any loss has been caused to the water bodies and to the forest land or government land.