Increasing mining activities that attract a lot of migratory workforce and boost commercial activities comes as new security challenge for a State like Uttarakhand as has been witnessed in the case of a 7- year-old girl recently being raped and murdered in Haldwani.
The suspects arrested in this gruesome crime are those who were associated with the same trade of collection of riverbed materials here from the Gola river. But the State Government does not seem to be as much serious as it ought to be in tackling the issue.
What has added to the concern is the fact that thousands of labourers are presently ‘jobless’ following disruption in the collection of the riverbed materials here from the Gola river and other rivers in the Terai region due to the hike in VAT on mining from 5 per cent to 13.5 per cent .
Since the work related to collection of riverbed materials remains disrupted since its commencement in November this year on account of the hike, thousands of traders, associated with this trade have taken to the streets in protest.
But the issue seems far from being resolved. Over 50,000 workforce in terms of labourers and 7000 vehicle owners are now engaged in collection of riverbed materials only from the Gola river in Haldwani.
The issue of the resumption of the mining process here would hopefully be resolved in due course of time. However, the movements of thousands of people, including the labourers and anti-social elements aside from the ‘illegal’ mining have compounded the vulnerability of the hill State. More so, the anti-social elements keep on sneaking into Uttarakhand from other States to elude the police in their respective States.
What adds to the alarm is the fact that the poor state of verification of the migrants is coming in the way of their being put under round the clock police scrutiny. During the investigation of the rape and murder of the girl, the officials of Nainital district police admitted that the verification of the migratory workforce on a day-to-day basis is not an easy task.
The Nainital district police officials concerned said that that though verification of the people, including labourers coming from outside, is being done on a regular basis, maintaining records of all of them is a daunting task. They keep coming almost daily. However, they said they are in contact with the contractors to maintain records of the migratory workforce.