Mahendrgarh | July 5, 2015:
llegal mining activity under way at Donkhera village in Mahendragarh district. Tribune Photo
Illegal mining is being carried out in Donkhera village of the district by a firm, which has taken a limited area of the Donkhera hill on lease.
Villagers have approached the district authorities to take stern action against the leaseholder. They have also threatened to launch an agitation against the authorities if they fails to take action on their complaint.
“An area of the hill was leased out to the firm by the government for 23 years, but the firm is carrying out illegal mining on 18 acres of common land allotted to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, which is located adjacent to the mining site,” said Rampal, a villager.
Mahabir Singh, another resident, maintained the firm owner had been taking the land on lease in the name of a villager for couple of years with an intention to carry out illegal mining over there instead of farming activities.
“Firm employees threaten and misbehave with villagers who raise objection to the illegal activity, that’s why we called on the Deputy Commission to get our land protected from mining activities,” said the villagers.
“We will not let mining continue on our land and will launch an indefinite agitation if no action is taken against the leaseholder,” they said.
Mahesh Kumar, Narnaul SDM, said following the complaint from villagers, a team of the Revenue Department visited the village yesterday to inspect the site. The team also measured the area where the firm had been carrying out mining.
“The team will submit its report to the DC tomorrow,” said the SDM.
(Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/)