India News | Pvt Firm Engaged by BRO in Road Construction Booked for Mining

Jammu, Jan 20 (PTI) Police on Thursday booked a private company, engaged in road construction, for illegal mining in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said.

Dharam Raj Contracts India Private Limited has been engaged by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for a road-widening project in Rajouri. This firm was found guilty of illegal mining from the river in Thanamandi, causing a huge loss to the exchequer.

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The mining was being carried out without paying any royalty to the government and without allotment of any mining block, they said.

Police said the company's actions amounted to committing theft of natural resources.

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The company has decayed the river bed, which is also causing ecological imbalance, and the water level has receded. The company illegally extracted river bed materials from a natural source and crushed them, the police said.

A huge stock of crushed materials, approximately 70-80,000 metric tonnes, was found on the crusher spot during an inspection, they said.

Acting on specific inputs, the police raided different locations and seized a dumper and an excavator, officials said.

(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)