Date | Sept 12, 2017:

Lodging complaints on the online portal launched by the Punjab government last week against illegal mining seems to be a daunting task for residents of affected villages at Majri block under Kharar Subdivision. Some of the residents, who tried to lodge complaints, said they could not register their grievances on the portal.

Sandeep Singh, a resident of Mianpur Jhangar village, told Chandigarh Newsline that he came to know about the online portal being launched by the state government for lodging complaints against illegal mining following which he tried to lodge his complaint but failed due to some technical error.

“The residents, who are not well educated, could not lodge complaints on the portal. This is a mere eyewash. It is better to lodge complaints with the local mining department officials but they, too, do not act properly,” he added.

Gurdeep Singh, another resident of the village, said as he was not very fluent in writing in English language, he could not lodge complaints. He also said that now the mining department would have another excuse and they would ask us to lodge the complaints online.

Gurwinder Singh, a resident of Khijrabaad village, said he tried to lodge the complaint but there was no specific category for lodging complaints against illegal mining. “The complainant has to lodge the complaints under general category. There are no specific features about illegal mining. It is only an eyewash, nothing else,” he rued.

Sher Mohhammad, who is the complainant in most of the cases against illegal mining, said most of the residents were unaware of any online portal and a few youngsters, who go to colleges or use smartphones, are aware of it. “The administration should create awareness about it if they are serious,” he added. Sources in the district administration said no complaint was received against illegal mining on the online portal till Monday.

(Source: http://indianexpress.com/)