Mining in the Ganga

Despite the martyrdom of Swami Nigamanand, illegal quarrying is going on unabated in the ganga and other rives, reports P.S. Chauhan:

Despite the martyrdom of Swami Nigamanand of Matri Sadan, Kankhal, Haridwar, illegal mining goes on in the Ganga and other rivers in the region, obviously due to an unholy nexus between the mining mafia and the law enforcing agencies. Swami Nigamanand (34) died after a fast of 115 days, demanding ban on quarrying of sub minerals, such as stones, boulders and sand, from the bed of the Ganga in the Kumbh mela area and the shifting of the Himalayan Stone Crusher, one of the biggest in the country, from the Kumbh mela area. Though the fast of the Swami did not elicit required response from the state government, the administration and the society as a whole, the state High Court on May 27 banned quarrying from the Ganga river bed and also ordered shifting of the Himalayan Stone Crusher out of the Kumbh Mela area. Swami Nigamanand's sacrifice for a noble cause is the first martyrdom in the country for banning illegal mining and quarrying from the river beds. The young saint tried to draw the attention of the society and the government towards the disastrous impact of unplanned and unscientific quarrying on the ecology in general and the purity and flow of the rivers in particular.

In Haridwar and adjoining districts the quarrying of sub minerals from the river beds in the Shivalik range, such as from the Ganga, Ratmau and Solani has assumed alarming proportions. The mining of the sub minerals is carried out by Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) in Garhwal division and the Kumaun Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) in Kumaun division and by the forests corporation in the forest lots. The mining policy of the union ministry of forests and environment and that of the state government lays dawn certain norms. "As per norms, mining activities are to be carried out from dawn to dusk and quarrying from the rivers is permissible only at least beyond 25 mtrs. from the river banks and digging only upto 1.5 meter deep in the river bed is allowed. Entry of vehicles, such as trucks and tracter trolleys, in the rivers is also banned," says D.M. Dhondiyal, the district coordinator of the GMVN. "However, all these norms are followed more in violation than in observance. Trucks and tractor trolleys can be openly seen wading through the Ganga and polluting the waters. JCBs are being used to dig up the river beds and deep pits have been dug up in the river. The mining mafia carries on its operations clandestinely mostly during nights", says Vijendra Chauhan, a social activist of Missarpur, a village on the Ganga bank. A few days ago, three children died after they fell into a deep and big pit, near the village Kathiavar, which was dug by quarrying mafia.

The union minister of state for agriculture and food processing and M.P. from Haridwar, Harish Rawat, who visited the village, was dumb struck to see that pits upto 30ft. deep have been dug up in the river bed near the village by the mining mafia. The extracted sub minerals are crushed in the stone crushers and the crushed material is supplied in the state and the adjoining region for constructing roads and buildings. "Due to spurt in construction activities, the demand of the crushed stones, pebbles, sand etc. has spiralled. The result is that quarrying has become a highly flourishing industry for the mining mafia and the stone crushers. Since most of the stone crushers are near the river banks, illegal mining is very easy", says Dr. Vijay Verma, an environmentalist associated with the Matri Sadan.

Officially there can be no mining activity in the rivers during the monsoon season. The court has imposed a ban on mining in the Ganga within the Kumbh Mela area. However, inspite of the ban by the court, mining goes on, which itself speaks of the high connections of the mining mafia in the corridors of power. According to reliable sources the illegal trade fetches Rs.200 crores per year in the region, though officially the administration earns the revenue of Rs.10-15 crores per year from the legal licences. In most cases the operators of the trade carry on their activities without paying royalty to the GMVN and the forest corporation. Thus the operators of illegal trade are defrauding the state exchequer in a big way on the one hand, while they are plundering the rivers and damaging the ecology on the other hand. By digging up from very near the banks of the river, the mining mafia has dented the river banks, causing soil erosion. The 14 km. embankment, built along the bank of the river to protect the villages from floods, has been broken at many places by the quarrying mafia to carry on their illegal activities, rendering the adjoining villages highly prone to recurrent floods.

The district magistrate, R. Meenakshi Sundaram says that he has directed the officials to conduct raids and seize the vehicles used in illegal mining and impose penalty. However, the claims of the administration are belied by mining which goes on unabated in the region. Taking serious note of the mining activities in the Ganga, the union minister of forests and environment, Jai Ram Ramesh has written a strong letter to the state government to crack the whip on the mining mafia which is playing havoc with the rivers and with the safety of human habitation along side of the rivers. Will the state government wake up!