Mining deaths: Parties slam police, admin

Political parties have criticized the police and the administration for the unabated illegal mining that led to the death of three persons, including two minors, on the Balasan riverbank at Marigara near Siliguri on 6 March.

According to the former Siliguri mayor and veteran Marxist leader, Asok Bhattacharya, the police and the administration had to accept the accountability for the incident.

"My condolences are with the family. We have voiced our concerns time and again over the indiscriminate looting of land, river, forest covers, especially in the Patharghata area. Miners use excavators to lift sand, which affect the environment more. What is the state government doing? The activities of the land mafia and illegal mining have been rampant in front of the police. They are allowed to do such illegal practices by giving some amount of money to a section of the police," the former state urban development & municipal affairs minister said. A resident of Sitamari, Bihar, Rohit Kumar, 16, who had come to his maternal grandfather's house, two locals Samal Sahani, 16, and Monu Kumar, 20, were buried alive after a chunk of earth fell on them while they cut sand with shovels. Another child Akash Sahani received minor injuries.