Hill. A big syndicate of illegal mining and illegal extortion by royalty contractors has come to light in the hills of Mewat region. On the complaint of a local resident, the police have registered a case of fraud and extortion against two henchmen of the royalty contractor. It is alleged that by ignoring government rules, not only are more money being collected from the drivers, but ‘entry’ is also being taken in the name of police.
Dhaulet resident Shakir son Razzaq told in his complaint to the police that royalty contract has been given to ‘Galaxy Mining Company’ for mining work in the hilly area. It is alleged that the employees of this company, Daulat Singh and Kotwal Singh, are making illegal extortion through bullying in the area. According to the complaint, the state government has fixed the royalty rate at Rs 60 per tonne, but these contractor employees are forcibly charging Rs 85 to 100 per tonne. Apart from this, an additional amount of Rs 500 to 1000 is being collected from each vehicle in the name of police expenses. According to the FIR, this game is not limited to illegal extortion only.
The contractor’s employees are making recovery on personal slips without any charge and without any official receipt. Goods are loaded in trains three times more than their capacity, but less is shown on paper so that government revenue can be stolen. Illegally mined stone is being secretly sent to the state of Haryana, causing loss of revenue worth crores of rupees to the Rajasthan government.
The complainant alleged that when local people or motorists protest against this illegal recovery, they are intimidated and threatened to stop the mining operation. Considering the seriousness of the matter, Pahari police station has registered a case under Section 4/21 MMDR Act and Section 318(4) (fraud) and 308(2) (extortion) of the Indian Justice Code (BNS). The investigation of the case has been handed over to Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Komal Singh.
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