25 stone crushers closed down in Kathua

Kathua, July 7: In a major crackdown against illegal mining activities and unauthorised processing of mined material, Kathua district administration closed down 25 stone crushers here today.

The action was initiated by Deputy Commissioner Dr. Rakesh Minhas after conducting physical verification and assessing the working of stone crusher units operating in the district.

Earlier, a team of mining department was also deputed by the Deputy Commissioner at various places from where a large number of complaints of Illegal Mining and unauthorised transportation of minerals were received in the DC office.

It was informed that after a spot visit, a detailed list of unauthorised stone crushers operating in the district was also prepared and placed before the Deputy Commissioner for action. All these crushers have already given ample opportunity of being heard through notices.

A formal order in this regard has also been issued by the authorities whereby one week time has been granted to stone crushers to close down their crusher units and remove their structures and machinery installed on the sites including ramps in order to avoid any other forceful move of district administration.

It is worthwhile to mention here that four more crusher units have already been closed by the Deputy Commissioner on the request of PCB last year. Further, a communication has been sent to PCB for taking action against operational crusher units for violating pollution norms.

Deputy Commissioner also informed that besides streamlining all existing stone crusher units in the district, no permission shall be granted to install new stone units and similar instructions have already been passed to authorities of the pollution control board.