Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Oct 14: The District Mineral Officer (DMO), Baramulla, Zahid Peerzada today said that he will look into illegal soil lifting in Baramulla and take necessary action.
As per details available with Excelsior, permission was granted by the authorities to one for lifting nearly 450 truckloads of soil; however, the same has now gone beyond 1000 truckloads since the day the permission was granted by the District Mineral Officer (DMO), Baramulla.
Further, while it was stated in the disposal permit issued that the soil extracted will only be used for Government works, however, the details suggest that the same is being sold to the private parties carrying out the landfilling.
As per the permit, the soil extracted is supposed to be used for the execution of Government works namely Repairs to Chain Link Fencing, Construction of Gates/Levelling of the playground at Tulibal, Sopore.
It has also been stated in the disposal permit that the lifted soil shall be strictly used for the Government works and in no case be used for filling of Abi Awal Land, however, on the contrary, there is a violation going on. The violation of the conditions laid down, as per the permit, will result in the cancellation of the same.
Concerning the royalty paid to the Government, details reveal that while nearly 100 truckloads of soil are being lifted from the spot, the royalty amount is paid just for 10 trucks regularly regarding which the receipts are available.
The permission for the lifting soil earlier, as per documents, was up to September 30, however, the same was later extended till October 30 after the concerned stated that due to the bad weather, the Disposal Permit was not executed fully.
The locals have also alleged that the lifting of the soil is also causing issues for the children who are studying at a school which is adjacent to the spot from where the soil is being lifted.
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