Three booked for illegal mining in Charsadda

CHARSADDA: The Mine and Minerals Department on Sunday swang into action and registered cases against three persons allegedly involved in the illegal mining of precious mines and minerals in the district.

Taking action against the illegal mining on the directives of Director-General Mine and Minerals Department Hamidullah Shah, Assistant Commissioner Adnan Jamil along with officials of the department raided Camp Koroona and registered cases against three persons for mining illegally.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Adeel Shah issued a notification banning all kinds of mining in 15 sites of the district.

Illegal mining of precious mines and minerals had been going on despite ban on the activity for the last two years in Charsadda district, causing huge losses to the exchequer.

Sources said that provincial government was losing Rs157.13 million per annum due to ban on mining and flawed policies to boost the sector in Charsadda.

They said that there were huge mine and mineral reserves on 13,000 acres of land in Charsadda.

However, they said mining could not be carried out for the last two years owing to the ban and non-existence of specific policies to promote the sector along modern lines.

The sources said that illegal mining from 15 mine reserves in the district was going on, which caused millions of losses to the government kitty and destroyed the sector as well.

They said the provincial government had suffered the losses amounting to Rs314.26 million due to ban on mining during the last two years.

The sources said that there were several main mine and mineral reserves in the district, including Manzooray, Khiyali, Dheri Zardad, Panra Jranda, Kanure, Subhan Khawar, Hajizai, Ziarat Chulghazai, Agra, Sardaryab, Shabara, Nissata Tapo, Subhan Khawar Block-B, Nawan Dhand, Munda Pul, Hat Canal and others.