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Katihar, 29 February (HS). The DM held a review meeting with members of the Mining Task Force, members of the District Mineral Foundation and officials of the government work project.
With the help of District Mining Office, Katihar and other members of Mining Task Force like Sub-Divisional Officer, Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Transport Officer and local level officers like Circle Officer and Police Station Head, District Mining Office has seized 180 vehicles in a total of 395 raids in the financial year 2023-24. Total penalty amount – Rs 231.67 (lakh) has been confiscated till the month of February.
From time to time, FIRs are also lodged at the departmental level against illegal agents. Illegal mining
To take action in the cases of mining, all the zonal officers and police station heads at the local level were again instructed to completely curb illegal mining. Officials of government work projects present in the meeting were also instructed to lift soil for work schemes only after obtaining valid license from the District Mining Office so that government work is not disrupted due to illegal mining raids being conducted at the district level. In-charge Mineral Development Officer, Katihar, Dr. Mrityunjay Kumar Jha was instructed that after receiving the mining plan, he will issue the permit as soon as possible in the interest of government work.
District Mining Office, Katihar has an important contribution in government revenue collection. A total target of Rs 19 crore has been achieved by the Mining Office by the month of February 2024. The Mining Office is making progress towards achieving the annual target of about Rs 29 crore 34 lakh received from the department. For which, by increasing the number of raids, all members of the Mining Task Force were instructed to take action as per rules against illegal mining, transportation and storage. Due to lack of mining revenue received from government work departments, a demand has been made from the working engineers for plan-wise mining revenue and instructions have been given to deposit the mining revenue in the mining head on time. In the brick season 2023-24, till the month of February, mining revenue has been paid by a total of 131 brick tenants and the receipt of revenue from the remaining is under process. Last year, mining revenue was paid by all the brick kilns running in the district. A total of Rs 1 crore 58 lakh has been recovered under the soil item against the annual target of Rs 85 lakh achieved by the Mining Office. In which there is a possibility of further increase till the end of the financial year.
Currently, Rs 7 lakh is deposited in the District Mineral Foundation, which can be spent on public welfare schemes under the Pradhan Mantri Mineral Area Welfare Scheme. In the past, the amount of District Mineral Foundation has been spent in 02 schemes. Due to which solar powered bulbs were installed in community toilets and through the second scheme, bench desks have been supplied to 06 girls middle schools of the district.
Katihar district is a flood affected area. Excessive amount of silt brought by rivers reduces the capacity of rivers/reservoirs and causes unexpected changes in the direction of water flow due to which floods take a catastrophic form and cause huge expenditure in protective works. In the light of the letter received by Additional Chief Secretary, Water Resources Department, Chetanya Prasad (IAS) and the Mines and Geology Department, the District Magistrate, Katihar, inspected the 11 silt sites identified in Katihar and found solutions for silt disposal. Instructions were given to the District Survey Report and Mineral Development Officer.
