One of the members of the now defunct Team Anna, Mufti Shamoon Qasmi has addressed a memorandum to Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi accusing the State -level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) of trying to legitimise the illegal mining activities currently underway in the Doon Valley and within 10 kilometres of the Asan conservation reserve.
He has requested the Governor to immediately order cancellation of EIA clearances accorded by the SEIAA. The Matri Sadan Ashram— a strong opponent of the mining mafia, has also extended its support to Qasmi’s demand.
Addressing the media here on Sunday, Qasmi said that the SEIAA had granted EIA clearance to several mining slots within 10 kms of Asan conservation reserve. He said, “While granting EIA clearance, the SEIAA has stated that extraction of minor minerals shall be restricted to the middle half of the width of the riverbed/mining site after leaving intact the one-fourth of width of the riverbed/mining site along each bank.
However, the mining slots cleared by the authority are located in the area along the bank which is meant to be kept intact. The SEIAA is purposely wrongfully issuing such clearances. Earlier this year the Uttarakhand High Court had directed that both the State Government and the mining leaseholders are responsible for observing policies for mining set by the Central and State Governments but neither of them is doing so. The chief wildlife warden had written to the Dehradun district magistrate stating that no objection certificate should be secured from the National Wildlife Board standing committee before approving mining slots within 10 kms of Asan conservation reserve.
The DM had in turn written to the mining leaseholders directing them to get clearance from the National Wildlife Board by April 25, 2014, failing which their slots would be cancelled.
However, inspite of no clearance from the NWB, illegal mining is being undertaken in such areas,” he said.
Stating that he expects the chief minister Harish Rawat to recommend a CBI inquiry into these anomalies, Qasmi said that he also plans to meet the President of India on this issue. Brahmachari Dayanand of Matri Sadan and environmentalist Anil Garg were also present on the occasion.