12 held on illegal mining charge

The police have arrested 12 people on a charge of illegal mining of sand at Daulewala and other villages along the Sutlej river. They also intercepted 11 sand trucks and two tractor-trailers loaded with the mineral on Friday at Mehna and Dharamkot.

The police have arrested 12 people on a charge of illegal mining of sand at Daulewala and other villages along the Sutlej river. They also intercepted 11 sand trucks and two tractor-trailers loaded with the mineral on Friday at Mehna and Dharamkot.

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The arrested persons are involved is the selling of sand on black market in Rajasthan and Haryana, the police have claimed. A few days ago, deputy commissioner Arsahdeep Singh Thind had issued order to impose ban for mining at river beds in the villages of this district.

Specials operations are on in Dharamkot and Mehna for stopping illegal mining of sand, senior superintendent of police Surjit Singh Grewal has confirmed. "We acted on input that some people from Haryana were mining sand illegally at Daulewala and nearby villages on the border of Jalandhar district," said the SSP. "The Dharamkot police intercepted four trucks and two tractor-trailers loaded with sand. The drivers were on their way to Haryana and Rajasthan."

The trucks and trailers were stopped near Kaila, Kamalke, Lohgarh, Jalalabad and Kot-Mohamad-Khan villages. Jagdish Singh of Nehreian in Fatehabad district (Haryana), Bhajan Singh of Sirsa (Haryana); Gian Singh of Patli (Haryana) and Balwinder Singh of Gorakhpur are under arrest in this connection. "Gaganjeet Singh, driver of one of the tractor-trailers fled," the SSP said.