Ajnala: Illegal sand mining rampant at closed sites

The Indian Express was eyewitness to full-scale sand mining operations over a five-acre area in Sahowal village on August 25.

A senior mining official said there should be no sand quarrying in Ajnala at this time. Four mining sites are situated on the river Ravi but they are closed in July, August and September during the monsoon. A local mining official said he did not know about the sand quarrying in Sahowal.

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But a visit to Sahowal village and a one-km walk through the fields revealed the vast area being mined in the village on August 25. Heavy trucks and tractor-trolleys were being loaded with sand just few hundred metres from the fencing on the India-Pakistan international border.

Sahowal is just adjacent to the Balarwal where the official site was sanctioned to a Parshant Joshi, a sand mining contractor. But mining operations there failed to take off as the villagers were opposed to it tooth and and nail.

The company has simply moved its operations next door to Sahowal, although there is no legally sanctioned mine in the village. In official documentation, however, both the company and mining officials have sourced the sand being mined from Sahowal to the Balarwal site.

The Indian Express has three different official weightment slips issued by Parshant Joshi Contractor, a Ludhiana-based construction company. These slips are given to truck drivers as documentation for the sand on the highways. The slips bearing the dates August 16, 21 and 23 show that sand in the vehicle was mined from Balarwal.

The slips carry the construction company’s stamp along with signatures of mining officials in Amritsar.

A visit to Balarwal village, located next to Sahowal, shows there is absolutely no mining going on there.

“We have never allowed mining from Balarwal village. Mining creates problem for the villagers. It damages roads, creates pollution and affects land under cultivation. We will never allow mining in our village,” said Mor Singh, the sarpanch of Balarwal village.

When contacted, the contractor denied he was mining anywhere in the area. “We are not doing any mining in Ajnala. I will check who is issuing slips in my name,” Joshi told The Indian Express.

Mining officer Bhagat Singh claimed he had signed no weightment slips. He said he did not know that there was mining going on in Ajnala.
Sahowal is not the only illegal operational mining site, which has been disguised as Balarwal. There was another illegal mining site on the forest land around 10 km from Balarwal at village Channa. This site is also being mined in the name of Balarwal.

A two-km unmetalled road from the Channa village goes towards the border. On the day The Indian Express visited the site, villagers of Channa had stopped traffic of heavy vehicles.

“Heavy trucks have damaged the roads. This is why villagers are opposing traffic of heavy trucks. They have been allowing only tractor-trolleys to transport the sand. We are hopeful that villagers will be pacified soon,” said a truck driver who was stuck due to opposition by villagers.

The Indian Express was offered sand by a person at the Channa mining site at a price that he said was cheaper than in the open market. The official price for one truck is Rs 1,500, but the man quoted a price of Rs 5,500, which he said was cheaper than the Rs 8000, the asking price in the market.

When contacted, General Manager Dharampal Bhagat head of Amritsar district Commerce & Industry department said there should be no mining site operational in Ajnala at this time of year.

However, he shifted the blame on forest officials, “I have come to know that the forest land is under illegal mining. We have informed forest officials. They can register the case against illegal miners on their own.”