Illegal mining rampant at BSP lawmaker's turf

(This story originally appeared in on Feb 10, 2016)

SAHARANPUR: Along a massive 400-sq km belt, considered to be BSP legislator Md Iqbal's "empire" - the man is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly amassing unaccounted wealth to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore - one just sees rows and rows of crushers, earthmovers and trucks, hundreds of them.

The district magistrate, Pawan Kumar, says mining in the swathe of land is illegal. SSP of the district RPS Yadav, on the other hand, insists he hasn't as yet got any complaints to act upon. But on the ground, the irony of those statements are staggering.

As one enters the Hathini Kund Barrage, it's easy to see the plunder of the earth. Across some 50 villages, there is incessant digging and transporting of materials. Pits as deep as 150 feet are visible everywhere and local residents told a TOI team that close to 4,000 trucks and 8,000 tractor trolleys laden with sand and stones move daily on the roads.

This is despite the Allahabad high court's order that put a halt to all mining activity in the region after a PIL was filed against it. There are few here, however, who will talk about it openly or accept that it is happening, though it's right under the nose of the administration and in front of people's eyes.

Truckers TOI met showed what looked like "receipts", complete with a stamp of the UP government, and said they are not doing anything "illegal". Some of them had paid Rs 30,000 per "consignment", others even more, around Rs 35,000. "Obviously, the racket is very systematic," a villager near the barrage, who refused to be named, said.

Villagers from about 50 villages affected by the mining activity said they were a harried lot, helpless "with hardly anyone making it an issue to be discussed". A source claimed that key men involved in the operations make "about Rs 6-7 crore daily". He added, "But everyone is scared. No one will come out in the open about it."

Another resident in Faizabad village said, on condition of anonymity, "Right outside our village, crushers keep throwing off dust in entire area. It is only when it rains that we get some fresh air."

TOI tried to contact Iqbal for his side of story, but he remained unavailable for his comments. His younger brother, Mahmood Ali, agreed to speak and said, "The case has not even started properly and we are already being labelled criminals. I can say with certainty that once the enquiry is over we will come out clean."

For the full report, log on to www.timesofindia.com

Saharanpur: Along a massive 400-sq km belt, considered by many to be BSP legislator leader Md Iqbal's "empire" - the man is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate for allegedly amassing unaccounted wealth to the tune of 10,000 crore - one just sees rows and rows of crushers, earthmovers and trucks, hundreds of them.

The district magistrate, Pawan Kumar, says mining in the swathe of land is illegal. But SSP of the district RPS Yadav insists he hasn't as yet got any complaints to act upon. But on the ground, the irony of those statements are staggering.

As one enters the Hathini Kund Barrage, it's easy to see the plunder of the earth. Across some 50 villages, there is incessant digging and transporting of materials. Pits as deep as 150 feet are visible everywhere and local residents told a TOI team that close to 4,000 trucks and 8,000 tractor trolleys laden with sand and stones move daily on the roads. That's business, by some estimate, of about 6-7 crore every day.

ThisAll this, of course, is despite thea June 26, 2015 Allahabad high court's order that put a halt to all mining activity in the region after a PIL was filed against it. There are few here, however, who will talk about it openly or accept that it is happening, though it's right under the nose of the administration and in front of people's eyes.

Kumar, the DM, said, "Mining is completely banned in the region and no such activity is taking place here. When someone is found doing it illegally, we immediately take action against him." Yadav, the SSP, too denies anything is amiss. "Our involvement comes when someone complains to us about any such activity. We haven't received any official complaint regarding 'illegal mining'," he added.

Truckers TOI met showed what looked like "receipts", complete with a stamp of the UP government, and said they are not doing anything "illegal". Some of them had paid Rs 30,000 per "consignment", others even more, around Rs 35,000. "Obviously, the racket is very systematic," a villager near the barrage, who refused to be named, said. "Money and material is changing hands and people are even getting receipts for it".

Villagers from about 50 villages affected by the mining activity said they were a harried lot, helpless "with hardly anyone making it an issue to be discussed". A source claimed that key men involved in the operations make "about Rs 6-7 crore daily". He added, "But everyone is scared. No one will come out in the open about it."

There are other fears too. A resident of Khairi village said, "There is a primary school right on the fringe of our village and just a few meters ahead of that is a huge pit. Our village is not even 500 meters from the Yamuna river, but the the mining on its banks continues night and day. There is constant danger that the entire village might collapse one day. May be the ongoing case in the court will reverse things. Otherwise we have no hope left."

Another resident in Faizabad village said, on condition of anonymity, "Right outside our village, crushers keep throwing off dust in entire area. It is only when it rains that we get some fresh air."

Vishwas Chaudhary, pradhan of Neerpur Gandhewar village, said that even a few years ago traffic jams were something no one had seen. "But it's common in our area now, thanks to the massive movement of trucks and trolleys. Most disturbing are the jeeps fitted with blaring sirens. These jeeps have 6-7 bouncers inside, whose role is to ensure that everybody cooperates. Our women and daughters find it really difficult to go to schools and colleges."

Ranveer Singh, pradhan of Aslampur Bartha village and petitioner in the PIL filed against Iqbal in the Supreme Court, considers himself a 'whistleblower'. But there are a few cases of mining pending against him as well, which he claims are "fabricated".

TOI tried to contact Iqbal for his side of story, but he remained unavailable for his comments. His younger brother, Mahmood Ali, agreed to speak and said, "I do not understand why there's so much attention on my brother. The case has not even started properly and we are already being labelled criminals. I can say with certainty that once the enquiry is over we will come out clean."

For the full report, log on to www.timesofindia.com Regarding the charges that we have 111 sham companies in different persons' names to run the so-called illegal business, let me tell you that these are times when even a father does not trust his son. And you are talking about unknown persons being made directors in these companies. This is nothing but political vendetta against my brother.

Raghav Lakhanpal, MP from Saharanpur, said, "This is a huge scam going on unhindered in Saharanpur with the patronage of the Uttar Pradesh government. Mining in Saharanpur is an illegal activity and I had raised the issue in Parliament after which an inspection team had come from Dehradun last year. But still nothing happened. I have given a document in this regard to the PMO as well."