Mined sand valued at ₹179 cr goes missing in Bihar

The AMPL surrendered its mining license in the last week of April, 2021 alleging it was suffering huge losses due to illegal sand mining which could not be stopped despite several letters to district and state officials

A big mining scam has surfaced in Bihar’s Rohtas district with at least 52.7 million cubic feet (cft) sand, valued at ₹179 crore, disappearing from the mining department’s stock within three months between May and July this year, officials aware of the developments said.

The mining department later cancelled the firm’s K-License in the first week of July, alleging the company had violated storage rules. (Hindustan Times/Representative Photo)

In the first week of August, the mining department accused mining contractor Aditya Multicom Private Limited (AMPL) of stealing the sand and registered criminal cases for theft and instituted proceedings for recovery of the amount from the company.

The AMPL has responded by alleging that the department had cancelled its license for stocking the sand for sale in off season and seized the stored sand in April and the officials in custody of the seized sand were responsible for the theft. It has approached the Patna high court over the matter. The mining department officials didn’t respond to this charge.

The mining department in 2015 awarded AMPL 5-year license for mining of sand from Sone river in Aurangabad and Rohtas districts beginning January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019. The contract to the company was extended for one year up to December 31, 2020 and later up to September 30, 2021.

The AMPL surrendered its mining license in the last week of April, 2021 alleging it was suffering huge losses due to illegal sand mining which could not be stopped despite several letters to district and state officials.

The AMPL also had another related licence to store sand at 17 different points in Rohtas district to sell in off season. This is known as K-License and it was valid up to December 31, 2021.

On May 1, AMPL’s K-License was suspended by the department till verification of the stock was done. The sub divisional magistrates of Dehri and Bikramganj, and assistant director mining Rohtas verified the stocks and found 48.3 million cft sand was stored at 17 points maintained by the company.

The mining department later cancelled the firm’s K-License in the first week of July, alleging the company had violated storage rules.

Later in the same month, the department’s project management unit (PMU) claimed that the total quantity of sand stored at the 17 points was 57.6 million cft, and only 4.927 million cft of sand was actually found at the storage sites on an inspection done around July 20. Following this, cases were filed under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Bihar mining minerals rules, 2019 against AMPL in the first week of August, assistant director mining, Gopal Kumar said.

The AMPL has questioned the department’s findings citing differences in the quantity of sand mentioned by the department in two different accounts. The company also claimed that since the mining department was the custodian of the stored sand after the company’s K-License was suspended and later cancelled, it should therefore be held accountable for the missing quantities.

The company also claimed that it had paid the royalty for mining settlement and the K-License in advance but was deprived from selling the sand.

The CPI-ML Kaimur district secretary and environment activist Vijay Yadav said that the officials under whose watch such huge theft, which in any case could not have been committed in a day or a week, should also be held responsible. Yadav has requested the Patna high court to take cognisance of the matter so that the racket ruining public exchequer, rivers and ecosystem in the region is exposed.

In July this year, Aurangabad superintendent of police (SP), deputy superintendent of police (DySPs) of Aurangabad and Dehri and the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Dehri were among the 17 top officials suspended by the state government for their alleged involvement in illegal sand mining.