JAIPUR: Once again coming down heavily on illegal mining in the state, a division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice N K Jain stayed all mining activities in Puhaniya village of Buhana tehsil and in Chanaana village of Chirawa tehsil in Jhunjhunu district.

The PILs claimed that mining lease holders are doing illegal mining outside the pit allotted to them. The use of explosives is causing health hazards and also resulting in cracks in constructions.

An ambitious plan for poverty eradication is set to benefit thousands of below poverty line households in Bharatpur and make the district poverty-free by 2015. Through a well-planned strategy for self and wage employment generation, the plan would benefit 11,000 BPL families of the total of 49,394 such households in the district during the current financial year.

According to the figures compiled by the Lupin Human Welfare and Research Foundation, which has formulated the poverty eradication plan, the total rural population in the nine blocks of Bharatpur district is 20.54 lakh, which includes the BPL population of 2.46 lakh.

JAIPUR/ALWAR: A group of about 100 illegal miners opened fire and pelted stones at a police team in Alwar's Nakhnol area on Friday in a sheer disregard for law and the law keepers.

The incident happened when a police team had swopped down on an area known as Loharon Ki Dhani after getting a tip-off about illegal mining there. The police were, however, not bogged down by their threat and managed to arrest three men, including an explosive expert, after giving them a chase for almost 15 km.

JAIPUR: Rajasthan will be the first state in the country where global positioning system (GPS) would be installed in around 1,000 buses of the state-owned Rajasthan State Roadways Corporation (RSRTC). The installation process would begin from Tuesday onwards. This system will not only enable the authorities to keep a track on the long-distance buses but will also facilitate them to put a check on things like theft of diesel which has been a big concern since it was rampant with the RSRTC buses.

JAIPUR: Almost two FIRs in connection with illegal mining are being lodged everyday in various police stations of the district in an indication that mafias have not left untouched even the city's surrounding areas.

The ongoing drive by the district administration has brought to the fore rampant illegal mining at several places including Maheshwas, Chainpura, Shyopur, Hathnoda, Manoharpura, Baneri Baandh and Kotputali. At least 15 people have been arrested over the past one month.

By the time you read this, Rajasthan’s Sariska Tiger Reserve may have reached a flashpoint yet again. By 14 May, more than 4,000 police personnel were deployed in the area.

JAIPUR: With monsoon approaching and farmers gearing up to sow the next crop, the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) has a big challenge ahead to take possession of remaining acquired land for the ring road project.

As the clouds of uncertainty continue to hover over the project, even those farmers who had surrendered their lands are preparing to sow groundnut and bajra after rain this monsoon.

JAIPUR: The Jal Mahal land lease agreement dispute reached the Supreme Court on Thursday, as was widely anticipated.

The private company, the Jal Mahal Resorts Pvt Ltd that was to lose the lease after the Rajasthan High Court declared the agreement illegal, filed a special leave petition (SLP) before the apex court, challenging the verdict passed on May 17. The SLP was mentioned before a division bench of Justice Deepak Verma and Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya that directed that the case to be listed again on Friday.

Rajasthan, which had prided itself on leading the way in relocation of villagers from its tiger reserves, is now facing a backlash. Villagers living inside Sariska reserve are in agitation mode and are refusing to be relocated.

Their complaint is that the `10 lakhs being offered to them by the government is completely inadequate. Gujjar leader Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla is also supporting their agitation which is also being fuelled by mine owners who operate on the boundaries of Sariska and who want to restart their mining operations.

JAIPUR: A division bench of Rajasthan high court has observed that the mining mafia is at its peak in the state and there is no effort to check them. The court made this remark while hearing a PIL filed by a Bharatpur-based advocate.

The petitioner, Battu Singh, has moved the court alleging that four politically powerful persons have been doing illegal mining in forest area in Bayan tehsil of Bharatpur. The case is being heard by Chief Justice Arun Kumar Mishra and Justice N K Jain (senior).