Illegal mining has also been carried by ambulances and hearse vehicles from three rivers (Saung, Dhakrani and Kulhal) of Dehradun district. Along with this, the numbers of government vehicles have also been found in thousands of Ravnas. This illegal game of mining has been played between the years 2017-18 and 2020-21.
The mining mafia changed the number plates of the vehicles and made away with millions of tonnes of illegal mining material in front of the eyes of the administration. When the CAG examined the receipts, it was found that the numbers of government vehicles were also included in these.
Not only this, out of the vehicles which were engaged in carrying illegal mining, thousands of numbers came out to be ambulances, hearse vehicles and private vehicles i.e. non commercial ones. According to the CAG report, one lakh 24 thousand 474 metric tonnes of mining material was transported by 2,969 government vehicles engaged in illegal mining.
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40 such vehicles mentioned
Similarly, 97 thousand metric tonnes of mining material was carried by 835 passenger vehicles and 1.52 metric tonnes by 2.5 thousand taxi vehicles. There were more than 57 thousand vehicles which were not registered at all. Apart from this, about two and a half thousand tonnes of illegal mining has been transported in vehicles bearing the numbers of ambulances, fire fighting vehicles, hearse vehicles, road rollers, X-ray vans.
The number of such vehicles has been mentioned as 40 in the CAG report. The numbers of 782 petroleum tanks were also found to be the same as those recorded in the records of illegal mining. About 8,000 tractors registered for agricultural purposes were also used for mining. Even 261 e-rickshaws and 201 two-wheelers have been shown carrying mining material.
Case caught like this
The CAG cross-checked the vehicle numbers mentioned in the receipts with the vehicle data base prepared by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Out of 4.37 lakh vehicles with Ravanna, 1.18 lakh vehicles were matched by the CAG. The CAG found that out of 1.18 lakh vehicles, 0.43 lakh vehicles carried illegal mining material. These vehicles included ambulances, cash vans, fire fighting vehicles, two wheelers and even e-rickshaws.
Details of vehicles engaged in illegal mining
- Number of government vehicles engaged in illegal mining – 6,303
- Total number of vehicles without registration – 60,882
- Number of other vehicles – 42,857