Illegal mining continues to pose a threat to the peace and tranquillity of the region as gang war to establish their supremacy over illegal mining in the Terai pocket of Uttarakhand is expected to get intensified in the coming days following the killing of an ex-student union leader Pratap Bisht in Shaktifarm in Sitarganj, Udham Singh Nagar, on December 13.
Though the Udham Singh Nagar police claimed to have arrested eight people in connection with the murder of the said ex-student union leader, people fear that the supporters of the slain student leader may gang up to avenge the killing of their leader.
An old hand in Kumaon affairs said after getting his two associates killed in the hands of the rival gang in 2002 over the same mining issue, the slain ex-student leader Bisht and his associates eliminated Yogendra Singh, alias Yogi of rival group in 2003 in Shantipuri in Udham Singh Nagar suspecting Yogi’s hand in this double murder case.
Since then the slain ex-student leader Bisht was having his supremacy over illegal mining in Sitarganj area. At the same time, his rival group had been waiting for the right moment to kill Bisht in revenge of Yogi. Finally, they managed to eliminate Bisht in December 13, when he was sitting in his friend’s shop in Sitarganj.
Whereas mining and collection of riverbed materials here from the Gola river have come as a huge source of livelihood for thousands of people, the same have also added to the vulnerability of peace and tranquillity of this entire Terai Bhawar region.
Illegal mining resulting in gang war and murder and gruesome killing of a seven-year-old girl after being raped by the labourers associated with collection of the riverbed material works here from the Gola river in November only creates such impression.
The fact of the matter is that presently the collection of riverbed materials here from the Gola river is going on. But politics seems to have come in the way of the State Government to deal with the illegal mining that goes unabated in Uttarakhand.
The Opposition parties have raised the issue of illegal mining time and again. Though Chief Minister Harish Rawat during his recent Kumaon visit claimed to have directed the officials concerned of Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar district administrations to strictly deal with the ‘mafia’ involved in illegal mining, it seems little has been done on the ground to check the same.