Poonch District administration failed to take action on illegal stone crushers; Crooked officers hand in glove
POONCH TODAY NEWS
POONCH: During the last three years, the issue of the number of illegal stone crushers operating without any fear of law remained in the news, and some officers of the Poonch administration grabbed the opportunity with folded hands and earned heavily from them.
Those crusher owners who greased the palms of the tainted officers were allowed to operate freely, while those who failed to fulfill the demands of crooked officers faced the timely heat from the administration. On the one hand, the pollution control board says that a number of crushers operating in Poonch district are illegal, but the district administration in an RTI reply, vide no ADCP/PS/RTI/55 dated 19-07-2024, said, says, that no illegal stone crusher is operating in the district as per available records. The tenure of the former two DCs remained in controversy on various issues, and the crusher issue was one of them. During their tenures, many illegal stone crushers were given green signals to operate, even near places of historic importance. The majority of crushers are operating near the forest and riverbed areas; some have encroached on riverbed areas also just to fulfill their business interests. Going by the poor response of the Poonch administration, it seems that different chairs have adopted different yardsticks while taking on illegal stone crushers and mining mafia. Those crusher owners with political backing are also involved in mining near major bridges but have not been taken to task yet, and this raises an alarm bell that the administration has adopted different yardsticks for different people. Earlier, an erring official of the revenue department posted in Surankote subdivision and a few others were involved in collecting money from a few stone crushers, mining mafia, and those who wanted to establish big projects out of the way on behalf of top officers of the administration, and it clearly shows that few officers were involved in ensuring the flourishing business of illegal stone crushers, mining mafia, and a few other big businesses. However, due to the regular practice of mining and illegal stone crushers, many drowning incidents were reported in the past because those involved in this business have diverted the flow of water in riverbed areas; they were openly seen digging near major bridges, thereby putting the lives of people at grave risk. This will have an impact on the foundations of major bridges. Interestingly, an illegal stone crusher was illegally allowed to be operated in the Dingla area of Chandak within a few meters of a school and opened by a PWD engineer who has a strong political background, but the administration never took action on this illegal stone crusher. Another illegal stone crusher was established near Kalai Bridge that has captured state land and also changed the river course, but who will bell the cat as district administration seems to be involved with those who are running such illegal units? Both these illegal crushers at Chandak and Dingla belong to the family of DDC Chairperson Poonch. Likewise, there are more illegal stone crushers running in the district. Some of them have links with the ruling party leaders, and as a result, they were given permission in violation of rules by the previous administration after the hand-in-glove activities of top officers. The Poonch district administration has made a mockery of the system, and this raises a big question mark on the transparency claims of the government of J&K. An impression has gained momentum in the public that politically sound persons can violate crusher rule openly while others having no political background need to obey all rules, and it shows that the main motto of some crooked officers of Poonch administration is to earn money by any means. Will the J&K government inquire about the issue by bringing the culprits to justice?