RTO THANE NASIK PUNE NAGPUR INVOLVE WITH ILLEGAL MINING ACTIVITY
1000 TRUCKS INVESTIGATION NOT SHARED BY RTO TRUCKS DETAILS WITH COLLECTOR THANE
REVENUE AUDIT REPORT 2015 EXPOSED NEXUS OF MINING,POLICE,RTO IN ILLEGAL MINING
MUMBAI: Read Parts Of Report.............
Non-furnishing of information by RTO/Police:- Non-furnishing of information by RTO/Police:- Four revenue authorities28 had detected cases carrying minor minerals in
114 trucks
which were either without transit pass or in excess of
transit pass. The
trucks, however, managed to escape but registration numbers
of these
trucks were recorded and were sent to concern RTOs to
ascertain their
name and address of the vehicles carrying the sand. But the
RTO did not
furnish the information to the respective Collectorate. It
was further
noticed that the Collector after referring the cases to the
RTOs had not
pursued the matter for obtaining the same. In one case in
Nasik, Police
Department referred (January 2011) the case of overloading
of sand by
4.41 brass to the RTO for levying penalty under MVT Act. The
RTO
Nasik requested (January 2011) to the Police Department to
coordinate
with revenue authorities for recovery of royalty and
penalty. The RTO and
police did not refer the matter to revenue authorities hence
no action has
been taken by the Collectorate.
_ A social activist had furnished a list
of 1,033 trucks carrying sand illegally
extracted to the Collector, Thane. The list was forwarded to
RTO Thane,
New Mumbai and Vasai in March 2013 for ascertaining the name
and
address of the truck owners. Of these, RTO, Thane could
furnish the
details of 318 truck owners only. The Collector, Thane,
issued show cause
notices to these truck owners in June 2013. Further action
taken had not
been intimated. However, remaining two RTOs did not furnish
the
required information nor was it pursued by the Collector.
_ The Police Department had intimated
(August 2013) illegal transportation
of 24 trucks of sand to the Tahsildar, Haveli, Pune. There
after no action
was taken by Tahsildar. After being pointed out (July 2015)
the Tahsildar
replied the cases will be referred to RTOs and name and
address of the
vehicles will be obtained. There after action against the
illegal
transportation will be taken.
_ Illegal transportation of sand
from other district/state:- In
two29 test
checked districts, information collected from RTO revealed
that 24 cases
of illegal transportation of mineral booked by RTO pertained
to other
districts/state30. These cases 31 were not referred to the
concerned DMOs of
the districts/state that had issued TPs for taking action
against the sand
ghat allottees to whom the TPs were issued.
_ In Alibag, Tahsildar seized (January
2013) 288.44 brass of sand on
account of illegal extraction at the site. The Department
did not take any
action to find out the person involved in illegal extraction
of sand and no
FIR was filed.
28 Thane, Nasik, Pune and Chandrapur
29 Nagpur and Yavatmal
30 Amravati, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Nanded, Wardha Districts
of Maharashtra and Madhya
Pradesh
31 16 cases of DMO, Nagpur and 8 cases of DMO, Yavatmal
Audit Report for the year
ended 31 March 2015 on Revenue Sector
132
The above fact indicates that there is a need for
co-ordination between the
revenue authorities, RTOs and Police Department to prevent
illegal extraction
and transportation of sand and other minerals. The
Department may consider
taking the matter with other departments and for evolving a
system of
coordination for them.
In the exit conference, the Principal Secretary, R&FD
stated that Government
Resolution is being issued in which issues raised regarding
need of coordination
with the revenue authorities, RTO and Police would be
incorporated.
_