GANDHINAGAR | March 17, 2017: In Ahmedabad, 494 cases of illegal mining have been reported in 2016 which was more than double the cases registered in 2015. The government also said that in about 50 cases registered in 2016 the state has to recover Rs 11.73 crore and in 59 cases in Gandhinagar the recovery was Rs 8.34 lakh.

In reply to a query of Sanand MLA Karamsinh Patel, the government said that in Ahmedabad, 174 cases of illegal mining were registered in 2015 which increased to 494 in 2016. The government further said that in Gandhinagar fines were recovered in 214 cases in 2015, while this went up to 369 cases in 2016.

During the discussion of another question the government said that in cases of illegal mining the government had adopted a policy to first levy hefty fines on illegal miners. But if recovery was not done in time, the government was forced to file police complaints.

Replying on behalf of the CM, education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said that the government has also launched a mobile application through which any person can register a complaint about illegal mining. The government has also opened a control room which monitors all such complaints.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)