Property dispute: Illegal mining takes place on mega city’s site

Housing scheme’s construction planned following auction

PESHAWAR: The provincial government’s proposed plan to establish a mega city by the Peshawar-Islamabad motorway has paved way for illegal mining at the site. The practice has been going on for the last several months.

The portion of the site in Nowshera was auctioned by the mines department but soon after Provincial Housing Authority (PHA) requested the Nowshera administration to impose Section 4 of Land Acquisition Act for the construction of a housing scheme. This was done in accordance with the K-P government’s policy on these grounds, the minors and minerals department renewed  the procedure. However, mining continued even though the site had been set aside for the housing scheme.

Locals believe high-ranking authorities and politicians are involved in illegal mining which would be detrimental to legal businesses at the site.

Converging point

According to data collected by The Express Tribune, a couple of months back the licensing director of the mines and mineral department advertised two mining sites for open auction.

The site of 2,200 acres in Mian Essa, Massam Dheri in Nowshera was auctioned. One part of it was won by Haji Amir Muhammad while the other block in Nandrak in the district was auctioned to a leaseholder, Quran Khan.

Amir Muhammad has approached and he agreed to mine on 1,400 out of the 2,200 acres of land. Mining was now taking place on Amir Muhammad’s portion but also on the block abandoned by the previous leaseholder. The second leaseholder, Quran, abandoned the lease. However, later the mines department issued work on the entire 2,200 acres of land. Now, mining was taking place not only Amir Muhammad’s portion, but also on the other block, abandoned by the previous leaseholder.

On the spotlight

Shah Khalid — another leaseholder of land for mining in Chauntri Jabbar, Masam Dheri that falls within the jurisdiction of Swabi  district —  submitted an application on Wednesday to the Nowshera deputy commissioner. He requested a ban on the illegal mining in the other block in Nandrak, under section 144.

Khalid got the land adjacent to Mian Essa, Masam Dheri in Nowshera. He said he obtained it through legal means for Rs74 million.  He said he made a huge investment to get the land lawfully therefore he would want to divert the authorities’ attention towards illegal activities. He has also written to the licensing director of the mines department – its copies were being forwarded to other high-ranking officials, including Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

When contacted, Mines and Minerals Department Director General Tayyab Muhammad Shah denied the reports of illegal mining in that area. “I personally visited the site two days ago and found nothing extraordinary.”  However, he said, due to the court’s involvement in housing schemes, his department was facing problems in streamlining affairs.

He said he would constitute an enquiry committee in this connection.

From the last several years, mining sector in all over K-P is a burning issue. Two former provincial mines and mineral ministers, Nawabzada Mehmood Zeb and Ziaullah Afridi, along with other high-ranking officers, were facing corruption charges. It was alleged a number of leading politicians were also involved directly and indirectly in illegal mining, which is considered more attractive and profitable business.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2016.