Illegal mining in Mau, Gonda: Yogi Adityanath suspends six officers for ‘laxity’ in action

Suspension orders have been issued for Colonelganj police station’s station house officer (SHO) Sadanand, Umri Begamgunj police station SHO Manoj Rai and Nawabganj police station SHO Ved Prakash in Gonda as well as Sarailakhansi police station SHO Sunil Chandra Tiwari in Mau, along with Mau Mining Inspector Vashistha Yadav and Gonda Mining Inspector Jitendra Singh for failure to check illegal mining. They will also be facing departmental action.

According to the state government spokesperson, District Magistrate (DM) of Gonda Jitendra Bahadur Singh, Superintendent of Police (Gonda) Umesh Kumar Singh along with Mau DM Rishirendra Kumar and SP Lalit Kumar Singh have been given a warning for not having “effective control” on illegal mining in the two districts.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Colonelganj (Gonda) Nanhelal, and Circle Officer (CO) Krishna Chandra Singh, SDM of Tarabganj (Gonda) Amresh Maurya and CO Brahm Singh, SDM of Mau Sadar Rajesh Kumar and CO Rajkumar will also face departmental action. Gonda district falls in Devipatan division. Devipatan divisional commissioner SVS Rangarao said that they had received complaints of illegal sand mining near the Ghaghara in Colonelganj area. Recently, 13 cases had been lodged in connection with illegal mining, he added.

Azamgarh Divisional Commissioner K Ravindra Naik said action was taken following complaints of illegal mining of ‘maurang’ in some parts of Mau. Action has been taken against the SDM and CO for not stopping illegal mining in their respective areas, he added.