Hoshiarpur, April 5
Dumping of hundreds of tonnes of garbage in the Bhangi choe by the civic body authorities and alleged illegal mining of sand from the choe bed and even from adjoining fields for years together has not only posed a serious threat to the environment, but has also threatened the health of thousands of residents of this city and adjoining villages.

Huge mounds of garbage, mostly containing non-biodegradable plastic bags, in a 4 km stretch of the choe, have been causing serious and almost irreparable damage to the environment of the city and to the health of thousands of residents of about a dozen localities and villages along the choe. The administration has done nothing to improve the situation, which has further deteriorated because of continuous illegal sand mining from the choe bed.

Protests by a number of residents of the city and that of adjoining villages have not yielded any results, probably, because of political and bureaucratic patronage being enjoyed by a group of the sand mafia and civic body officials, who allegedly connive to fill garbage to conceal huge pits, allegedly dug up in the choe bed for extricating sand.

The ongoing process of illegal mining has reached such a point that it has started posing a threat to the strategically vital Tanda Byepass bridge. “The sand mafia has dug up sand from under the bridge to such an extent that one can see the foundation of the bridge pillars, ” said Mr Surinder Singh Kang, a Bahadurpur village-based NRI, who was part of the first group of residents of Bahadurpur and adjoining villages, who resisted the “illegal” mining operations by the sand mafia. “So much so that they started throwing all norms to the winds by digging up sand from private fields falling along the choe,” said Mr Kang alleging that those indulging in illegal mining were so powerful that none of the officials dared to stop them despite the complaints.

Mr A.K. Sood, another farmer, said the modus operandi of the illegal miners was to first dig up deep pits in the bed and then cover these by dumping garbage with the connivance of the civic body officials. “Heaps of garbage not only pollute the air, but also the ground water,” he added. Mr B.S. Bhalla, a resident of the Sheetla Mandir locality, said the area along the choe was once so clean and green that residents of the city used to enjoy their walks there. “Now it is nothing but a nightmarish experience to even pass through that area even with the help of a vehicle, particularly, during rains,” he said adding that garbage was also damaging about 12000 saplings of different trees planted along the choe by the Forest Department recently.