In order to put a check on illegal mining activities, Uttarakhand Illegal Mining Prevention Vigilance Unit (IMPVU) has decided to install about 20 CCTV cameras in illegal mining prone areas of the state, said IMPVU chief executive officer DIG Sanjay Kumar Gunjyal on Thursday.
Gunjyal said that he had led a team and conducted raids at various illegal mining prone areas in Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Dehradun in the last few months and seized material illegally acquired by the mining operators apart from taking action against them under Mining Act. “We have recently released mobile number 7535975505 and one can inform the police about ongoing illegal mining activities in their area on this number,” he added.
The department received around 2000 anonymous mobile phone calls informing the police about ongoing illegal mining activities from various parts of State. Most of phone calls were received from Haridwar and Nainital districts, while very few phone calls from Chamoli, Bageshwar, Pauri, Pithoragarh and other mountainous districts of the State.
After verifying the registered report, the team will conduct drive against illegal mining activities apart from awarding informers by the Police. Gunjyal said, “We have decided to install about 20 CCTV cameras in illegal mining prone areas of the state to put a check on illegal mining activities in the state. Department will impose challans based on CCTV footage apart from taking action against illegal mining operators in the State.”