Laghman company charges sand, rock mining beyond contract

Monitoring Desk

JALALABAD: The Spin Ghar Talak Company continues to receive money from sand and rock mining in eastern Laghman province despite the end of its contract in May, 2017, Pajhwok Afghan News has reliably learnt.

The Spin Ghar Talak Company inked a contract worth more than two million afghanis with the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum on 11, 06, 2013, according to which the company could extract sands, gravel and rocks from Regi Pul, Tergario and Karim Nahar areas on the outskirts of Mehterlam, the capital of Laghman province.

The end date of the contract was 05, 11, 2016 before it was renewed for another six months until a new end date of 06, 16, 2017.

Pajhwok has learnt that despite the end of the contract, the Spin Ghar Talak Company continues to extract sand, gravel and rocks from the deposits.

The company on average basis daily charges every truck 80 to 150 rupees and around 150 trucks are daily loaded.

The amount taken from trucks according to their size and load capacity ranges from 80 to 100 and 150 rupees.

According to the local Mining and Petroleum Department, the company has the right to charge the above mentioned amount on every truck.

Documents show the Spin Ghar Talak Company charged trucks at the sites until 17, 03, 2019 and the process is ongoing.

According to the documents, the provincial Mining Department on 05, 07, 2017 wrote a formal letter to the Governor’s House stating that the contract with the Spin Ghar Talak Company has ended and the company is demanding extension in the contract.

In reply, Deputy Governor Shahzada Mazlumyar directed legal proceedings in the matter, but the company continues collecting money from truckers without any extension in its contract.

In addition, local residents and local police stationed near the sand and rock deposits also extort the truckers.

Pajhwok reporters captured footages when local individuals were extorting the truckers and they also tried to film the local police doing the same thing, but failed.

Truckers’ complaints

Truckers in Laghman province complain the contract holding company, local residents and local police take money from them according to their wish.

They say the contract holding company charges them against the set rules, resident extort them without any agreement and police also demand money from them.

The truckers say they pay 30 to 150 rupees to local people.

Mamur Mohammad Asif, a member of the Truckers Union in Laghman, said around 200 trucks transferred construction materials from three natural reservoirs in Laghman.

He said the contract holder charged each truck 150 rupees; each mazada 100 rupees and Hino truck 80 rupees.

He said the residents also took 30 rupees and local police 100 rupees from each truck.

Habib Rahman, a driver, who was loading sand in his truck, said he paid 80 rupees for each trip to the contract holding company, 30 rupees to local residents and 100 rupees to local policemen.

Provincial Council and people

The Laghman provincial council also says money is still illegally collected from sand and rocks mining in the province.

Mohammad Zahir Hussainkhel, a member of the provincial council, said truck drivers had repeatedly shared the issue with them and the Provincial Council had sought the mines department’s cooperation in resolving the issue, but they did nothing so far.

Local residents say they charge 30 Pakistani rupees from each truck because the deposits are located in their areas and the money is then divided among local people.

Dasta Gul, a local dweller, said the money collected from trucks was not based on any contract with the government, but it was a decision made by the local community.

Contracted company

Spin Ghar Talak company head Pohan also acknowledged the term of their contract was for three years, but he did not reject if they still collected money from the mines.

He said they collected 100 afghanis from each dump truck, 80 afghanis from a Hino truck and 70 afghanis from a Mazda truck.

But based on tariff papers of the company, each dump truck is charged 150 afghanis, Hino truck 100 afghanis and Mazda truck 80 afghanis.

Local officials

Eng. Najibullah Attai, the Laghman mines director, said a three-year contract about extraction of sand, gravel and rocks was signed with the Spin Ghar Talak company five years ago and the contract was now expired.

He said the company still collected money from 150 vehicles every day on average.

On the other hand, Abdul Qadir Mutfa, spokesman of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, refused to comment about the issue and suggested information about the issue should be seen on the ministry’s website.

On the ministry’s website, there is only a copy of the contract which ended on May 6, 2017.

Meanwhile, the Laghman governor’s house said they seriously acted against any illegal activities, but it did not say if any action has so far been taken about the illegal money collection from mines extraction.

Laghman governor’s spokesman, Asadullah Dawlatzai, said they had not received any reports about illegal extortion from sand and gravel mining, but added the provincial mines department had been ordered to investigate the issue.

Besides the three mentioned mines, Laghman is rich in sand and rock deposits and many companies are currently busy extracting them. (Pajhwok)