CHARSADDA: More than 700 official complaints against persons involved in illegal mining are still awaiting registration of cases at various police stations in Charsadda, raising concern that the delay is encouraging continued unlawful extraction from the Swat River’s gold blocks.
According to details, the Mines and Minerals Department in Charsadda has sent a total of 1,085 written complaints to police for the registration of cases against persons allegedly extracting sand and other low-grade minerals illegally from the gold block area near Khiyali in the Swat River.
However, due to what officials describe as a lack of cooperation from police, only 372 of these complaints had been registered while 713 were still pending at different police stations.
Assistant Director Mines and Minerals Monitoring Asif Raza said the matter had also been brought to the attention of the District Police Officer through a written communication Letter No. ADM 2286, urging police to register cases to curb illegal mining activities. Despite this, he claimed that more than 700 complaints remained unregistered.
He said that under Section 56 of the Mines and Minerals Act 2017, illegal extraction of minerals carried a minimum fine of Rs500,000 and a prison term of up to six months.
In practice, however, he said when suspects were produced before special magistrates, they were usually fined only between Rs15,000 and Rs20,000.
According to officials, not a single person involved in illegal mining across the district had been sent to prison during the past year, a situation that emboldened illegal mining groups operating in the area.
Illegal mining from the gold block sites in Charsadda has been continuing for some time, causing losses worth millions of rupees to the provincial exchequer, officials said.
