Express News Service
DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) has made a sensational revelation in its report on illegal mining, which it says, has been carried out by “ambulances” and “hearse” vehicles from three rivers beds (Song, Dhakrani and Kulhal) of various districts adjacent to Himachal Pradesh and in Dehradun.
Along with this, the number of government vehicles have also been found “deployed” for thousands of outlet permits. The illegal mining has taken place between 2017-18 and 2020-21. The mining mafia has thus duped the state exchequer of crores of rupees by changing the number plates of vehicles by taking millions of tonnes of illegal mining material.
“Thousands of vehicles engaged in carrying out illegal mining turned out to be ambulances and non-commercial vehicles,” it said. According to the CAG report, 1,24,474 metric tonnes of mining material was transported from 2,969 government vehicles engaged in illegal mining.
The CAG report, which has surprised many officials and ministers, also revealed that “835 passenger vehicles carried 97 thousand metric tonnes and 2,500 taxi vehicles had 1.52 metric tonnes of mining material. There were more than 57 thousand vehicles that were not registered. Apart from this, about 2,500 tonnes of illegal mining has been ferried in ambulances, fire tenders, autopsy vehicles, road rollers, and X-ray van numbers.
Speaking to this paper, state Finance Minister Prem Chand Agarwal said, “After studying the CAG report in detail, the government will take the strictest action against the culprits involved in it. Any kind of negligence will not be spared.” The CAG report puts the number of such vehicles at 40. As many as 782 petroleum tanks were also found in the illegal mining racket.
How the fraud came to light
CAG examined vehicle numbers mentioned in challans along with database of vehicles
Out of 4.37 lakh vehicles, 1.18 lakh were matched by CAG. It found that out of 1.18 lakh vehicles, 0.43 lakh carried illegal mining material
DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) has made a sensational revelation in its report on illegal mining, which it says, has been carried out by “ambulances” and “hearse” vehicles from three rivers beds (Song, Dhakrani and Kulhal) of various districts adjacent to Himachal Pradesh and in Dehradun.
Along with this, the number of government vehicles have also been found “deployed” for thousands of outlet permits. The illegal mining has taken place between 2017-18 and 2020-21. The mining mafia has thus duped the state exchequer of crores of rupees by changing the number plates of vehicles by taking millions of tonnes of illegal mining material.
“Thousands of vehicles engaged in carrying out illegal mining turned out to be ambulances and non-commercial vehicles,” it said. According to the CAG report, 1,24,474 metric tonnes of mining material was transported from 2,969 government vehicles engaged in illegal mining.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
The CAG report, which has surprised many officials and ministers, also revealed that “835 passenger vehicles carried 97 thousand metric tonnes and 2,500 taxi vehicles had 1.52 metric tonnes of mining material. There were more than 57 thousand vehicles that were not registered. Apart from this, about 2,500 tonnes of illegal mining has been ferried in ambulances, fire tenders, autopsy vehicles, road rollers, and X-ray van numbers.
Speaking to this paper, state Finance Minister Prem Chand Agarwal said, “After studying the CAG report in detail, the government will take the strictest action against the culprits involved in it. Any kind of negligence will not be spared.” The CAG report puts the number of such vehicles at 40. As many as 782 petroleum tanks were also found in the illegal mining racket.
How the fraud came to light
CAG examined vehicle numbers mentioned in challans along with database of vehicles
Out of 4.37 lakh vehicles, 1.18 lakh were matched by CAG. It found that out of 1.18 lakh vehicles, 0.43 lakh carried illegal mining material
