SHIMLA: With a dismal rate of conviction, illegal mining has continued to be a good source of revenue for the fund-starved state as the mining mafia continue to plunder the rivers and khads of Himachal Pradesh.
From Chandra and Bhaga in Lahaul-Spiti to Beas and Suketi and Saon khads in Mandi, Una and Kangra and Pabbar in Rohru, the illegal mining industry continue to thrive under patronage from the politicians.
Police, no doubt have logged an increase of 48 per cent in collection of fine from the illegal mining cases in 2018-2022 till June under tenure of the present Jai Ram Thakur government as compared with the previous Congress regime from 2013-2017 June.
But the police have yet to improve its conviction rate in illegal mining cases to check the mafias. It is high conviction rate, which is a reflection on good and corruption-free governance and good policing, say legal experts.
HP DGP Sanjay Kundu claims that they have increased vigil by adopting “zero tolerance towards mining mafias” and registered more cases and recovered more fine under the tenure of the present government in comparison with that of the previous period.
But the DGP's claim fell short of a complete success story as the police have failed to improve its conviction rate throughout for the last 8 years in question. The conviction rate remains woefully dismal in both tenure of BJP and Congress governments.
The police could attain conviction of just two violators under both regimes!
On an average, Himachal Pradesh earns "revenue from fine" worth Rs 4.5 crore each year from the violators challaned by the police in 2018 to 2022 till June under the present government.
All In all, the Himachal police registered an increase of 13% in challaning and 48 per cent increase in recovery of fine from the violators in 2018-2022 till June as compared with the period from 2013-2018 till June.
Citing the data, Himachal Pradesh police challaned 31,379 violators till June 2022 from 2018. Out of this, as many as 26, 666 cases were compounded by the police and recovered Rs 16.6 crore as fine from the violators.
The police put the challans in the different courts across the state in as many as 4713 cases. The respective courts imposed and recovered a fine of ₹1.4 crore in 2803 cases.
Rest of the 1910 cases are pending adjudication in the different courts in the state.
In Contrast, from 2013 to 2017 June, Himachal police had challaned 27, 741 violators in illegal mining across the state.
Out of these the police had compounded 21,393 cases and recovered a fine of ₹11.2 crore as fine from the violators in this period under the then Virbhadra Singh government.
The state police had put up challans in as many as 6348 cases of illegal mining in different courts across the state.
In as many as 2607 cases the court had recovered a fine of ₹90 lakh, while 3741 cases were pending in different courts awaiting adjudication.
In the 2018-2022 June period, the police put up challans in 154 cases. Out of these, 51 cases were dismissed, while in 75 cases were put up in the court. Over 24 cases are still under police investigation.
But the police could attain conviction in only two cases so far, while 73 cases were pending adjudication in different courts in 2018-22 under the Jai Ram Thakur government.
In contrast between 2013 and 2017 police had filed 46 cases of illegal mining, 17 cases were rejected, while 26 cases were pending then in the court.
Out of challans of 29 cases in the court, the police had attained conviction in two cases, while one accused was acquitted by the court.
