Haryana: Over 250 mining vehicles seized in last 45 days

Haryana police has seized over 250 mining vehicles in the last 45 days and imposed hefty fines under the amended Motor Vehicles Act, in a bid to stop illegal mining in the Aravalli Mountain range.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Preet Pal Singh Sangwan, of Gurugram police, and nodal officer on illegal mining, said that the vehicles were impounded when they were being used for illegal mining in places like Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal, Rewari and Mahendragarh.

"We have constituted two dedicated teams for conducting raids with the help of concerned police station and the area's mining team. The team has managed to establish strong network of informers in these districts and their vital information at the right time helped us to conduct raid and apprehended red handed," Sangwan said.

"We have been impounding 5 to 6 vehicles on daily basis. In some of the cases, the vehicles laden with stones are impounded by traffic police as well for multiple violations," ACP Sangwan said.

Most of the vehicle owners are yet to pay the fine amount as it is too high.

As illegal mining is a big concern in Aravalli Mountain range as it severely disturbs ecological balance in the region, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had given directions to various state governments to take measures on it.

The districts of Gurugram, Rewari, Palwal and Nuh have a complete ban on mining activities, and partial mining is allowed in Mahendragarh and Bhiwani districts of Haryana.

The Aravalli mountain range prevents desertification of Thar (Rajasthan) from spreading in Haryana and Delhi. The dense forest in the mountain range is also a natural habitat of different wild animals like leopard, hyena, python and many others.

( With inputs from IANS )