Leader of the Opposition in the Haryana Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday alleged that the “mining mafia” was flourishing across the State and the State government seems to be in deep slumber on the serious issue.
“Illegal mining in Bhiwani’s Dadam took the lives of two more people recently after five labourers died earlier this year. Despite this, no action has been taken against the mafia till date. The families of the workers and employees of the accident in the mining sector should get compensation, one job and justice,” he said.
Mr. Hooda said it is the result of giving a free hand to the mafia that they are doing mining fearlessly even after the lives of taking so many people. “On January 1, five people had lost their lives due to illegal mining in Dadam. Even then, the government neither acceded to the demand for a CBI inquiry under the supervision of the High Court nor did it take any action in recovering the ₹7.5–crore fine imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on the mining companies,” he alleged.
“Why is the government avoiding taking exemplary action against mining companies? Why is the government running away from a fair investigation of the whole matter? It is clear from the attitude of the government that its intention is to cover up the whole matter and trap the small fish and save the big sharks,” he said in a statement.
He alleged that the entire State is in the grip of the mining mafia, adding that illegal mining continues unabated despite the direction of the High Court, the Supreme Court and the NGT to stop mining of granite stone and sand.
Mr. Hooda said the mafia has been defrauding the State exchequer to the tune of thousands of crores. “Such a big scam is not possible without the collusion of the people holding high positions in the government. The money which should have gone to the treasury is going into the pockets of the mafia due to government protection,” the former Chief Minister said.
