Animals are paying the price for illegal mining continuing unabated in different parts of Uttarakhand, particularly in Terai landscape in defiance of the State Government-imposed ban,
A leopardess aged around seven being crushed to death under the wheels of a dumper allegedly used in illegal mining in Ramnagar’s Gabuwa area in the wee hours on Friday has stunned the locals.
The carcass of the animal was found near Dabaka river bridge at Gabuwa in Terai-west forest division’s Balparao range on the Ramnagar-Haldwani Road around 4 am on Friday.
The forest officials and others said that the leopardess had met her death while crossing the Ramnagar-Haldwani Road.
Though it is yet to be confirmed by police and the foresters whether the vehicle was being used to extract river bed materials by way of illegal mining from rivers like Dabka and Kosi in Ramnagar area the people residing around say that things are so.
“There are reasons to believe that the vehicle is meant for illegal mining as the chance of other vehicles moving along the stretch during such odd hours is slim,” said one of them.
The people sound angry over the fact that mining- related activities are going on in full swing despite the respective district administrations having suspended them in view of the monsoon.
Notably, State BJP spokesperson Balraj Passi had sounded concerned of the state of things here last Sunday. He had further alleged that such things had been going on with the connivance of some ministers and Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar district administration officials.
Mention worthy, a trainee IFS official, Kalyani, working with Terai-west forest division, was attacked by the goons of the mining mafia in the same Dabka river bank area
this summer. This was preceded by the attacks allegedly by the mining mafia on the chairman of Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation, Harish in April and on statehood activist Prabhat Dhyani and social activist Munish Kumar in March in the same Koshi area of Ramnagar region.