Kumar Rajiv Nayan
Sasaram: Assistant Director, Department of Mines,Government of Bihar, Gopal Kumar, has lodged six separate FIRs with Dehari, Indrapuri, Darihat, Tilouthu, and Dalmianagar, police stations (PSs) against lease holder Company ‘Aditya Multicum Private Limited in connection with sale of sand worth about Rs 179 crore illegally.
National Green Tribunal (NGT) has banned digging of sand from river since June 1, 2021, and issued ‘K’ license to lease holder company Aditya Multicum Private Limited for storing of sand though the company had already surrendered its license in the month of April 2021 and withdrew itself from sand mining.
It was said that Dehari Sub-Divisional Officers had submitted report that showed that at least 4.83 crore cft sand was stored at 17 dumping points in Rohtas District in May 2021, on one hand while on the other, the Project Management Unit of the Mines Department reported storagee of 5.27 crore cft of sand after physical verification in July 2021.
Meanwhile, the Mines Department detected that only 49 lakh cft out of 5.27 crore cft remained at dumping points in the first week of August this year.
Gopal Kumar said that 5.27 crore cft sand worth about Rs. 179 crore was kept at 17 dumping points which was missing. He said that only Aditya Multiicum Private Limited had “k-License” for dumping the sand during off season and so the company is responsible for it and a certificate case has also been lodged against the company.
Rohtas SP Ashish Bharati said that theft of sand worth crores of rupees is a serious matter and so an SIT has been formed to inquire into the matter and stern action would be taken against the guilty.
Manager, Aditya Multicum Private Limited, Pankaj Singh said that the company had surrendered its license in April 2021. Again a big gap in the statement of the Dehari administration and Mines Department in the calculation of amount of the sand was detected that revealed large irregularities at administration level. He added that the company was not responsible for theft of sand and it has knocked the door of the Patna High Court in this regard.