Mining mafia attacks policemen, run away with JCB in Himachal’s Nurpur

DHARAMSHALA: A police team was allegedly attacked by goons of mining mafia during a late night raid in Kandwal area of Nurpur on Tuesday following which they fled from the spot scene on a JCB machine.

Six tippers and two JCB were seized from Chakki river in Nurpur, police said.

Kangra superintendent of police (SP) Santosh Patial said, acting on a tip-off, a police team led by Nurpur deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Navdeep Singh conducted a raid in Chakki Khud, which marks the boundary between Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

He added, “There were three JCBS and six tippers involved in the mining operation. On seeing the police team, the men tried to flee but cops managed to seize one JCB and all tippers.”

The police said they managed to get a hold of another JCB, but mining mafia goons attacked them and ran away with the excavator.

The police registered a case under Sections 379 (theft), 353 (assault to deter a public servant from discharge of duty) and the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act.

A manhunt was on to nab the culprits, police added.

Sources in the police department claimed the SP attached cops deployed at Kandwal police post to the police lines for leaking out the information of raid to mining mafia.

Illegal mining is rampant in the rivulets of Nurpur and Indora areas of the district that lie on the border of Punjab and HP. The mafia repeatedly takes advantage of the unclear boundary line between the two states.

HP government has been demanding a clear demarcation of the interstate boundary from Khanni to Kandwal and from Kandwal to Jagat Giri Ashram along the Chakki Khud since 2005, but to no avail. A joint demarcation exercise was conducted by the field staff of the revenue departments from Pathankot and Nurpur in September 2015, but it was left incomplete.

The Kangra administration has raised the issue with the Pathankot administration yet again.