Ranchi, Mar 13 (PTI) Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren on Wednesday said that illegal mining is tarnishing the state's image and asked officials to check it.

The CM at a high-level meeting to review law and order, illegal mining, road safety and crime control in the state, directed the officials to take action against those engaged in illegal mining.

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The chief minister asked the officials to activate the task force formed to prevent illegal mining in the state and district level.

He told the officials that all necessary steps should be taken to stop illegal mining and transportation of coal, sand, iron ore, stone and other mineral resources.

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"The image of the state is being tarnished due to illegal mining. It is a big issue in the state," the CM said, according to an official statement.

The officials informed the chief minister that as many as 1,632 FIRs related to illegal mining have been registered till January this year. A total of 4,557 vehicles have been seized and an amount of more than Rs 13 crore has been recovered as fine.

Reviewing the law and order situation, the CM said that the government's priority is to make Jharkhand a crime-free state.

"Control incidents of crime at all costs. Investigate criminal incidents related to land buying and selling and ensure action against the culprits," the CM directed the officials, according to an official statement.

Soren also directed the officials to smoothen the city traffic.

After reviewing sand mining, the CM ordered to hand over the responsibility of the operation of identified 369 sand ghats to gram panchayats.

He said that the tender processes of sand ghats in the state should be expedited.

Officials informed the chief minister that the tender for 444 of Category II sand ghats in the state has been finalised. Agreement has been made with 116 agencies, once environmental clearance is obtained, sand lifting work can be started in these ghats, the officials informed the CM.

The CM also reviewed the progress of road, building construction, rural and water resources departments in another meeting.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)