KATHUA: Today, Rajinder Singh, the District Mineral Officer for Kathua (DMO), fined an excavator engaged in illicit mining in Sahar Khad in this city Rs. 9 lakh. Without first obtaining authorization from the mining department, the excavator was taken from the River Bed Mineral excavation site in the Palan Morh neighbourhood of Sahar Khad and transported to Shree Krishna Stone Crusher. It was advised that the JCB machine was taken to the police post as soon as it was seized in accordance with current regulations, and that the Joint Director would only release it once the fine had been paid in the Directorate headquarters in Jammu. Some locals’ complaints prompted the start of the action.The DMO said that DC Kathua has given explicit instructions to stop the illicit mining activities in the area. He disclosed that three excavators had already been taken from the same site for violating the Geology and Mining Department’s laws regarding the excavation of minor minerals.
