RANJAH: Illegal extractions of river products are going unchecked in Ranisonari rural municipality of Banke when the country is observing a nationwide lockdown against the global pandemic of coronavirus.
According to a local Hemant Chaudhary, illegal supplies of river products are taking place through Muguwa, Mathebas and Madui checkpoints taking undue advantage of lockdown.
Local leader Bishwa Sagar Pariyar said collections and supplies of stones from the local Bhuwarbhawani Community forest area adjoining to the Rapti River continued unabated.
Former lawmaker and local leader Pattu Tharu expressed his concerns over unlawful mining from the Rapti River, putting nearby settlements at high risk. More, it causes a huge revenue loss to the state, according to him.
Rural municipality chief administrative officer Dal Bahadur Basnet said the entire local government focused on the prevention and control of the coronavirus at the moment and he sought cooperation from locals to check such unlawful activities if any.
As per the law, the royalty charge for the extraction of a tipper of river products is Rs 4000 and illegitimate mining is obviously a loss for the local government which had collected a revenue of over Rs 140 million last fiscal year.
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