YAVATMAL | Jun 08, 2015: A fine of Rs1.3 crore has been slapped on a government land lease holder on charges of illegal mining of murrum and stone, beyond what was permitted to him. The tehsildar took this action on the direction of district guardian minister and MOS for revenue Sanjay Rathod on Saturday during his 15 hour long marathon Janata Darbar at Umarkhed.
The minister is holding a spree of Janata Darbars in tehsils across the district and was in Umarkhed on Saturday.
One Kalabai Lalu Pawar had been demanding action against government land lease holder Bandu Kashinath Kunte of Umarkhed, since he had not only exceeded the approved limit of mining from the leased land but also encroached on land owned by Kalabai and excavated murrum and stone worth lakhs of rupees.
The aged woman had resorted to a hunger strike in front of the tehsil office twice earlier against Kunte, but to no avail since he had blessings of the revenue officials. On hearing about the Janata Darbar, Kalabai again launched a hunger strike to draw the attention of the minister.
The issue was raised in the Janata Darbar and Rathod ordered tehsildar Sachin Shejal to take immediate action against the lease holder and the then talathi.
Kunte had been granted permission to excavate 5,951 cubic metre murrum from the leased land in 2004-05. However, he excavated 22,196 cubic metre murrum. The royalty was calculated at Rs32.49 lakh. The tehsildar has thus slapped a fine of Rs. 1.3 crore on the lease holder, which is three times the royalty. It is the first action by the revenue department in the history of Umarkhed. Kalabai called off her hunger strike after the action was initiated.
(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)