Environmentalists have said that the State’s plan for seeking transfer of rivers from the jurisdiction of the Forest Department to the Revenue Department to enable quarrying of riverbed material (RBM) will end up expanding the scope for indiscriminate and illegal mining activities. Stating that such a move would benefit profiteers and politicians while damaging the environment, they stress that in stead of transferring the control from the Forest Department the organisational structure of the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation should be augmented to also regulate the quarrying activities.
Chief Minister Harish Rawat had recently met the Union Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar and requested him to approve a proposal to be sent by the State to the Centre for transferring the control of rivers from the Forest Department to Revenue department as in some other States. This would enable scientific extraction of RBM to mitigate the risk of floods, said the CM. However, environmentalists in Uttarakhand have lambasted this plan stating that if approved, it would end up proving detrimental to the State and its environment. Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) founder Dr Anil Prakash Joshi said that transfer the control of rivers from the forest to revenue department would end up expanding the open loot of natural resources underway in the State. He said, “During 1974-75 the rampant illicit felling of trees resulted in the formation of the forest corporation to undertake and regulate tree felling in the State. Instead of bringing rivers under the purview of Revenue department, the government should transform the forest corporation into the Uttarakhand forest development and mining corporation so that it can undertake or ensure scientific mining.
Suresh Bhai of Nadi Bachao Abhiyan said, “The rivers are being seen as means of consolidating vote banks. Interests of politicians and profiteers have been hurt by recent instances like strong public opposition forcing the government to withdraw clearance to five stone crushers in the fertile Maletha area and Swami Shivananda and his disciple Atmabodhananda’s protest in Haridwar against illegal mining in the district. The plan to transfer rivers to the purview of Revenue Department appears to be aimed at meeting dubious aims. The attitude of the State Government is such that recently the CM had said that environmental activists have made Uttarakhand a laboratory for their activities. It is a cause for concern that the CM thinks so in a State where the people have generated environmental movements like the Chipko Movement and Raksha-Sutra that spread far beyond the State,” he said.