VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Dec 9: Yet another illegal mining case in Sahibganj district has caught attention of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in which about one and half month back the forest department had lodged an FIR against two persons for mining in the forest area at Patana block in the district.
It is widely whispered in the mining circle that the district administration made a very weak case. According to sources, the ED, which has been watchful about mining related cases, activities and orders in Sahibganj, doubts Pankaj Mishra and one of the associates from Bengal were doing illegal mining through proxy.
Patana block is the part of the Barhet assembly seat represented by Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Pankaj Mishra is the MLA representative of the Chief Minister.
The mining firm under question is Pooja Stone Works which was granted the mining lease. But the firm allegedly carried illegal mining in the forest area. The district administration and the forest department jointly carried out inspections and an FIR was lodged at the Ranga police station under sections of the forest act. The FIR was lodged against one Sanjeev Singh and Sanjay Malto.
Divisional forest officer Manish Tiwari confirmed the FIR and said that a dumper truck was also seized. Tiwari said a mining firm was granted mining lease under section 4 dealing with 1946 act related to reserve forest. “It was found that this firm exceeded mining in the forest area as well, hence, the FIR was lodged,” he said.
