JAIPUR: The Supreme Court rulings which were considered sacrosanct, have failed to make any impact on the mining in the Aravallis. Despite several orders of the SC and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), banning mining in the Aravallis, it continues unabated, levelling the range and clearing the forests in Tijara. Now, one can easily see a gap of nearly 200 metre in the oldest mountain range near Tapukara.
After the last Supreme Court order in July 2014 pulled up the governments of Rajasthan and Haryana for not being able to stop illegal mining and quarrying activities in the Aravalli region, mining paused for some time but by 20%. According to an official, in Tijara alone mining has led to disappearance of forest and hills from 1,000 hectares of land and people have been forced to migrate as their farms have been rendered unfit for cultivation after mining. Despite a 2002 Supreme Court order banning mining, illegal activities continues in the ecologically fragile region.
“Over 20 km of forest right from Natnaul, Gawalda, Sarekala, Sarekhurd, Gandwa, Indore, Chhurpur, Kolawat to Silkhoh village on Haryana border has vanished. There is no forest guard or ranger in that area to check illegal mining and Hindus who are a minority in the area fear raising their voice even after blasting at night showers stones in their houses,” said a source.
Moreover, near Chhurpur, the Aravallis stand as the geographical boundary of Haryana on one side and Rajasthan on another. But illegal mining for 1.5 km diminishing the hill has amalgamated the two states.
“Ironically after the last SC order, not a stone is being mined in Silkhoh as the Haryana government is very strict. But all the stone mined in Rajasthan is being sent to Gurgaon and Noida for construction business. Add to that, the number of people who have died in the process. While the official number of people dead in mining operations is within 100, the actual number is much more. And there is no record,” said a source.
Central to the SC’s landmark order is the argument that the entire Aravalli range falls under the category of ‘forest land’. To stop the ravaging of the 250-km-long Aravalli mountain range and check irreversible environmental damage, the Supreme Court banned mining.
The NGT recently ordered, “It would be the responsibility of the state government through the chief secretary, secretary, mines & geology and secretary, forests as well as the director general of police and the home secretary along with the transport commissioner to ensure that no illegal mining is carried out, no such mineral is allowed to be transported, no illegal stone crushing activity is permitted and necessary action to prevent such illegal activities shall be taken up with all seriousness by the state government.”
“Contravention of the above shall be dealt with under Section 26 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 apart from any other provisions that exist either under MMCR, 1986, Forest Conservation Act 1980 and the provisions of IPC. Section 26 of the NGT Act clearly provides that whoever fails to comply with the orders of the tribunal shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and fine which may extend up to an amount of Rs 10 crore or with both and failure to comply would further entail extended liability of Rs 25,000 per day. It is therefore, made clear that the district administration and state government shall ensure full compliance of our above order.” But so far there has been no complaint and none has been fined.
TOI| Nov 24, 2014
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