Mining mafia getting political patronage: Virbhadra Singh

SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Friday said that mining mafia was active in the state and getting political patronage, due to which truckloads of mining material was being taken to Punjab from the hill state.

The government has decided to take harsher steps to stop illegal mining and new laws were being framed to curb such activities, he said. "Besides cancelling the licences, trucks and tractors carrying illegally mined material will also be seized," said Virbhadra.

The issue was raised in the assembly during the budget session on April 5 this year and industries minister Mukesh Agnihotri had said that since mining was banned in Punjab, trucks were smuggling out mining material from Himachal. Alleging political patronage, he had said that whenever a truck was seized by the department concerned, some member or other of the House would try to get it released. On April 20, the Himachal government had formed a committee under the chief secretary to submit a report on measures to curb illegal mining.

Recently, fighting against mining mafia, Nalagarh SDM Yunus Khan was almost killed by a tractor driver who tried to push the official vehicle of the SDM down a bridge and later tried to empty sand and gravel over the vehicle.