Continuing its drive against illegal mining, a team of officers from Geology and Mining Department, J&K on Tuesday sealed three stone crushers in Ravi belt in Keedian Gandyal area near here which were operating without license and permission. A team of the Department led by Joint Director, Ashwini Kumar Khajuria along with District Mineral Officer, Kathua, Dr Rajinder Singh Bandral with staff members raided the premises of three stone crushers in Keedian Gandyal area and sealed all of them which were operating without proper licenses from the Government. The DMO Kathua Dr R S Bandral said the crushers which were sealed included M/S Ravi Stone Crusher, M/S Shree Krishna Stone Crusher and M/S Stone Crusher in Ravi river belt as all the three were running illegally and extracting mineral deposits despite ban by Supreme Court of India, National Green Tribunal (NGT) Court New Delhi, Pollution Control Board (PCB) and Geology and Mining Department ,J&K and had totally violated SRO-302 dated 19/7/2017 and SRO-105 dated 31/03/2016 issued by the Government in this regard. As per SRO-302 license is pre-requisite for the operation of any unit established in the district, said DMP Kathua Dr Rajidner Singh Bandral. It may be recalled that Geology and Mining Department of J&K UT has intensified its drive in the area after the Department received many complaints that the illegal mining was taking place in Keedian Gandyal area of Kathua district and 200 to 300 tippers cum dumpers were taking away the extracted minerals from the area every night towards Punjab causing a threat to flora and fauna as well as newly constructed Rs 160 crore bridge on river Ravi and service road in the area.
