Sahebganj district mining officer Bibhuti Kumar and the local police sealed an illegal stone mine in the Kirokuria area of Taljhari block on Friday morning after conducting a raid. The officials also arrested the driver of an earthmover and seized the vehicle. Along with the earthmover, one tractor and a drilling machine were also seized from the area.
Speaking to TOI, Kumar said, “The raid started at about 8am but when the workers and the driver of the tractor saw us approaching, they fled. Police, however, managed to arrest the driver of the earthmover who identified himself as Naval Kumar Mandal.”
Dumka: Ruling JMM’s Borio MLA Lobin Hembrom took a tough stand against illegal stone mining in the district by checking stone-laden trucks at Mirjachouki checkpost along NH 80 to expose the alleged nexus between stone mafias and the administration on Wednesday night.
Since 9pm on Wednesday night, Hembrom and his men began checking challans of all outbound trucks and said hardly any vehicle had valid documents. Besides heavy losses to state exchequer, he added that the rampant illegal stone mining and transportation is also leading to miseries of villagers of Badtalli, which falls in his constituency, due to pollution.
He said, “I was surprised to witness that not a single truck out of over one hundred intercepted by us during the barely three-hour time had any valid challan. Imagine the extent of losses to the exchequer.”
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