Jhansi: The district administration on Tuesday launched a crackdown on illegal sand mining and imposed penalties totalling over Rs 4 crore on mining lease holders and storage operators. It also cancelled a sand-mining lease after an earlier penalty imposed for illegal extraction remained unpaid.The action was taken after authorities took note of huge mountains of sand stocked in land on the sides of Jhansi-Kanpur highway near Baragaon with no prior autorisation.Acting on the directions of district magistrate Gaurang Rathi, a district-level team led by additional district magistrate (judicial) Arun Kumar Gaur, who is also the officer-in charge of mining, carried out inspections at mining sites and authorised storage facilities.A penalty of Rs 74.60 lakh was imposed on M/s Abhilash Gaur at Sultanpura village in Moth tehsil, while M/s PS Mines LLP at Siya village in the same tehsil was fined Rs 3.69 crore. Another penalty of Rs 28.51 lakh was imposed on M/s Sakshi Enterprises at Dudi village in Garautha tehsil for irregularities in its storage licence.The team also detected illegal sand and morrum extraction outside an approved lease area, following which legal action was initiated against the alleged offenders.Rathi said illegal and unauthorised mining, extraction from the main channel of rivers and attempts to create an artificial shortage of minerals for black-market sales would not be tolerated. He directed officials to take strict action against those involved in illegal mining, transportation and storage.
