A special enforcement team of the Haryana Police has confiscated 843 vehicles involved in illegal mining activities in 12 districts of the State over the last 8 months.

A penalty of Rs 23 crore was imposed against vehicle owners for transporting illegal mining material. Also, more than 50 cases were registered against the vehicle owners.

A total of 1,378 vehicles, including trucks, tractor-trolleys, and earthmovers, have been seized in the same period. Along with this, the police have also seized several drill machines used in illegal mining. The police confiscated vehicles bearing Haryana registration numbers along with their illegally mined material.

ACP Preet Pal Sangwan was given the charge of the Gurugram and Mewat region. The ACP is along with 25 police officers, who were given the task of tracking the movement of vehicles illegally transporting mining material from Aravallis to various construction sites and crusher zones in the region.

“The illegal activity was going on more in the border areas and efforts were afoot to keep tabs on vehicles ferrying mined material or without requisite documents,” Sangwan said.

Out of the 846 vehicles involved in illegal mining activities, around 241 were seized at Narnaul in

Mahendragarh district, 172 in Faridabad, 145 in Gurugram, 67 in Charkhi Dadri, 50 in Mewat, 49 in Rewari, 48 each in Palwal and Bhiwani districts, 10 in Hisar, nine in Jhajjar, three in Sonipat and one in Rohtak.

 “A huge demand for quarry material exists in the border areas of Punjab and Haryana where several infrastructure projects are underway. Illegal mining is usually undertaken between late evening hours and early morning,” said an official of the mining department on the requesting anonymity.

“We have increased surveillance in the prone area where such illegal mining is taking place. Besides, teams of mining and forest departments have also tab on illegal mining through their sources. Also, we are taking help from local residents and sources to crack down illegal mining nexus,” Sangwan said.

According to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, which the tribunal had passed in the previous year that all vehicles that are seized will be released only after recovery of at least 50% of the showroom value of said vehicles. Apart from this, the confiscated vehicle owner will also have to pay a royalty fee, the value of the material loaded on the vehicles, along with Rs 10,000 fine before the vehicle can be released.