Haryana Police Officer Run Over By Truck During Illegal Mining Check

In a horrifying incident that captures the terror of the mining mafia in Haryana, a senior police officer was run over by a stone-laden truck in Nuh today when he went to stop the illegal mining of stones.
Surendra Singh Bishnoi, a DSP rank officer, had received information that stones were being illegally mined at Pachgaon near the Aravalli mountain range. He reached the spot around 11 am today along with a police team.

On spotting the police personnel, those involved in the illegal mining started fleeing the spot. The senior officer stood in the way and signalled the stone-laden vehicles to stop. But the driver of a truck ran him over, killing him on the spot. Two other policemen had a narrow escape as they jumped aside. The accused then fled the area.

Police have now launched a search operation to arrest them. In a condolence message put out by its official Twitter handle, Haryana police said “no effort shall be spared in bringing the offenders to face justice”.

Following the shocking incident, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij said the mining mafia won’t be spared. “We will take strict action. No one will be spared,” he said.

According to the Economic Survey of Haryana for 2021-22, tabled before the Assembly on March 8, a total of 21,450 illegal mining cases were detected in the state, including transportation of minerals without valid documents, from 2014-15 up to September 2021.

Despite a Supreme Court ban order dating back to 2009, mining has continued unabated at several places in the Aravalli region.

A group of citizens, named Aravalli Bachao Citizens Movement, approached the National Green Tribunal earlier this year. They alleged that illegal mining was rampant in at least 16 locations in the region.

“In many locations, substantial portions of the hills have been mined and taken away and, in some instances, completely razed to the ground,” the petitioners told the tribunal.

They also alleged police inaction on many complaints of illegal mining.

The tribunal then constituted a joint committee of representatives from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the central and state pollution control boards, state police and mining and forest officers. This panel, the tribunal said, would visit the identified locations to check if illegal mining is on.