JAIPUR: A division bench of Rajasthan high court has observed that the mining mafia is at its peak in the state and there is no effort to check them. The court made this remark while hearing a PIL filed by a Bharatpur-based advocate.

The petitioner, Battu Singh, has moved the court alleging that four politically powerful persons have been doing illegal mining in forest area in Bayan tehsil of Bharatpur. The case is being heard by Chief Justice Arun Kumar Mishra and Justice N K Jain (senior).

Illegal stone quarrying near Almatti can have disastrous consequences, fear greens. Stone quarrying goes on unhindered on the banks of River Krishna, even as locals allege that officials of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL) are turning a blind eye to the illegality.

The national river policy stipulates that stone quarrying should not be conducted on the banks of any river. It is feared that the quarrying may cause damage to the nearby bridges on the Parvati Katta road (a road bridge and the railway bridge) and the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. The dawn to dusk stone quarrying in and around the Krishna river basin has invited the wrath of environmentalists.

ALWAR: Illegal mining on Aravali hills has not only raised environmental concerns, but also resulted in huge loss of human lives in the state. As per the records made public in the state assembly recently, 40 people have lost their lives due to illegal mining in Mewat's Alwar region over a three years' period.

The police's apathetic attitude towards these deaths has also added to the sorrow of victims' family members. Several cases have come to the fore in which police did not register cases against illegal miners despite repeated requests by the victims' family members. This makes it hard to prove whether these people, mostly labourers, died in mining work.

JAIPUR/ALWAR: At least six labourers died while a few others were feared trapped under debris in two mining mishaps in Alwar and Rajsamand districts on Thursday. While the mishap in Alwar's Bhiwadi area took place in an illegal stone mine, where three labourers died, in Rajsamand's Kelwa region, three were crushed to death when a marble block came sliding upon them. The Alwar mishap has exposed the unabated illegal mining in the area despite the Supreme Court ban.

Land alloted for National Games, Portuguese Commonwealth Games used for illegal mining

Several trucks and machinery were confiscated at the land acquired by Goa government to set up a sports city here for National Games 2014, busting an illegal mining racket on government land, police said. Goa police raided the illegal laterite stone mining activity on the land Monday evening after a complaint by the locals.

PANJIM: The land acquired by state government for sports city in Pernem, which has been kept idle since 2009, has become a target of rogues indulging in the illegal mining activity.

A raid conducted by Directorate of Mines and Geology following complaint by locals on Monday have noticed that laterite stones were being mined illegally.

The National Green Tribunal has sought a report from the Ministry of Environment and Forest on industrial units functioning in the vicinity of the Kaziranga National Park in Assam.

Asking the ministry to conduct a survey in the park’s vicinity, the Tribunal also expressed its displeasure on the ministry’s failure to a respond to the plea which alleged unregulated quarrying and mining activities in the ‘No Development Zone’ around the park and Tiger Reserve and Karbi-Anglong Elephant Reserve in Assam.

In the backdrop of recent murder of an IPS officer, allegedly by a mining mafia member in Madhya Pradesh, a woman revenue officer escaped from meeting a similar fate by a whisker when she tried to put a leash on illegal excavation of stones at Kusumania village in the district, officials said on Thursday.

The suspected mining mafia member, who tried to mow down Meena Pal, posted as Tehsildar at Kannod, when she was inspecting the illegal mining of stones at the site on Wednesday, is local BJP leader Dhara Singh Patel, they said.

Leaseholders to submit papers on lease, fencing of lease areas, daily reports on transportation

In a bid to regulate iron ore extraction and transportation by the private sector in Goa, the Directorate of Mines and Geology on Monday issued two orders, directing all leaseholders to submit daily reports on transportation and askingd them to submit documents concerning the lease and fencing of the lease areas.