13 tractors, two excavators and five drivers under control
Madhesh Chief Minister Satish Kumar Singh reached Kamala Khol in Dhanusha on Wednesday midnight. After seeing the security personnel who had arrived along with Chief Minister Singh, those who were exploiting the Kamala river at night ran away.
In Ganeshman Charnath Municipality-7 of Dhanusha, sand and gravel were being mined in Portaha area of Kamala Khola even at midnight on Wednesday. Chief Minister Singh along with security officers of Dhanusha were deployed in the area from 12:00 pm to 3:00 am on Wednesday after receiving complaints of illegal and unfair quarrying of stones and gravel in the forest area and community forest area of Kamala Khola.
Dhanusha Police DSP and Spokesperson Barunwahadur Singh informed that 13 tractors, two excavators and five drivers were taken into custody during the raid led by Chief Minister Singh. When the team including Chief Minister Singh reached the river in the forest area in the middle of the night on the north side of the East-West highway, the excavators and tractors that were working on them and the people involved escaped.
Chief Minister Singh said that due to the mining and indiscriminate exploitation of natural resources against the rules, procedures and standards, the property of the state has been damaged and disasters are occurring, so he has been monitoring it. He said that after receiving a complaint that stone-gravel and sand were being extracted illegally from other rivers including Kamala river north and south of the highway, he conducted monitoring in the middle of the night.
Chief Minister Singh was informed that stone-gravel and sand are being mined from 10:00 pm to 4:00 am from streams and rivers located in forest areas and community forest areas. Dhanusha police chief SP Bhuvneshwar Tiwari, who is part of the chief minister's monitoring team, said that the trend of making money illegally through unauthorized exploitation of natural resources has increased and police will be mobilized strictly against it. He said that the meeting of the district monitoring committee, of which he is also a member, will be held and necessary additional steps will be taken to prevent illegal and unauthorized exploitation.
