Aside from affecting the income of the revenue department, illegal quarrying in the Ganga river bed is also posing a threat to the ground water table as well, say the scientists and observers. They say that the mining mafias and the stone crushers are digging the earth beyond the permissible limits, resulting in the formation of small pools and pollution of the ground water coming to the surface. Concerned over the digging spree impacting environment, Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) is mulling steps to be taken against the violators.
Following the report submitted by the district administration, stating that the stone crushers were digging up lands inside their allotted premises and carrying out mining activity involving sand and boulders beyond the permissible limits, the board is now engaged in assessing the damage done to the ground water. As soon as the report is released, action would be taken against the stone crushers, board sources say.
Notably, a district administration team headed by the district magistrate had conducted raids on 18 stone crushers recently while slapping penalties on five of them for having carried out illegal mining and storage. The detailed report mentioned that the mining being done deep into the ground, the ground water was coming to the surface at places and was getting polluted.
Acting on the observation, the board has started an assessment survey. Speaking to The Pioneer, a district official of the UEPPCB Pradeep Kumar Joshi said, “Despite the fact that mining does not come under the prerogative of the board, we are assessing things with the menace causing irreparable damage to environment.”
Observers say that despite measures taken by the administration to curb illegal mining, the menace is rampant in area stretching from Dhanauri to Buggawala. According to them, the stone crushers are engaged in illegal mining in the seasonal rivers, the mined materials being supplied to the villages of Rasulpur Togia and lalwala aside from some parts of Haridwar through tractor trolleys.
Meanwhile, Dhad Kshetra Sangharsh Samiti has demanded a total ban on the crushers in this area. Ritesh Sharma of the Samiti has appealed to the district magistrate in a letter to ban mining in the area.
However, the state's minister of water supply, finance, excise and parliamentary affairs Prakash Pant has made it clear that mining cannot be banned completely in the state, adding that in case this was done it would adversely affect the developmental works in the region. He stressed on manual mining as per scientific methods being done as an imperative to stop Ganga from flooding vast areas. “However, the state government had made a transparent system to monitor mining,” he said.