BHOPAL: Two days after chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan sermonised MLAs to ensure that their businesses should be such that their public image is not affected, the truck of his nephew Pradhyumn Singh Chouhan was caught for overloading in the city. Few days back a Sehore mining officer had seized four trucks owned by Pradhyumn involved in illegal mining.
Chouhan’s truck was among the 52 trucks and dumpers seized by the district administration and mining authorities for overloading and illegal mining of sand late in the night on Thursday. The owners and drivers alleged that the mining department had released the trucks of influential people without taking any action.
Mining inspector Ashok Dwivedi informed that they have seized 52 trucks, which were overloaded or were transporting sand mined without payment of royalty. These trucks have been parked in the Lal Parade ground. The cases will be presented in the court of the Bhopal collector who will decide the penalty to be imposed on the owners.
The drivers and owners of the seized trucks, however, alleged that around 110 trucks were seized by the police and the mining department but the trucks owned by influential persons were allowed to go.
They said that they were ready to pay the penalty if they have violated any rule and added that the administration had intentionally seized their trucks to benefit other sand transporters.
The administration came into action following chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s instructions to clamp down on illegal mining of sand.
