category Regional, shimla, , tags Regional, shimla, , DW BUREAU shimla The Himachal Pradesh Police have issued 4,360 illegal mining challans in the first seven months of the year till July 31, an official statement said on Tuesday. Twenty-nine cases have been registered in this regard and 1,234 vehicles involved in illegal mining have been seized by the police, the statement issued by the office of the Director General of Police said. A fine of Rs 2.71 crore was realised from the violators in 3,506 challans while the remaining 854 challans were sent to the various courts in which a fine of Rs 6.38 lakhs has been imposed, it said. According to the release, 583 challans were issued in Mandi district followed by 580 in Una and 511 in Kangra. In 2022, 6,686 illegal mining challans were issued and 39 cases were also registered against the violators. It is worth mentioning that Himachal Pradesh government has set up a task force to control illegal mining and review the action taken by member departments to check such activities at different levels. Illegal mining of sand, gravel and stones boulders, without payment of requisite royalty taxes to the state government, does not only also cause huge losses to the state exchequer but also results in environmental degradation. According to an official statement issued by the state government on Monday, it is trying to increase revenue through scientific mining besides being serious about curbing illegal mining. To prevent evasion of royalty and for simplification of Form W X, the same will be linked with M-Parivahan Portal. Related departments like public works department, jal shakti department and pollution control board among others will also be linked with this portal. Flying squads have been deployed at different places to curb illegal mining in border areas. The mining staff is conducting raids in such areas at odd hours to check illegal mining in the industrial belts of Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh area of Solan district. Mining departmental officials are dismantling illegal roads carved out by the mining mafia at inter-state borders and conducting raids in these industrial belts, the statement added. (editor dailyworld.in)