Ropar: Spotlight on illegal mining amid poll heat
Chandigarh, May 29
The raids by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Ropar has again brought the spotlight on the illegal mining on the Sutlej riverbed near Anandpur Sahib.
The ED raids expose the nexus between politicians cutting across party lines and mining contractors.
In the 2014 General Election, the issue of illegal mining had taken gigantic political overtones and was one of the reasons for rather poor performance of the SAD-BJP government.
In the past 10 years, the state has seen Congress and now AAP government grappling to provide less expensive sand to consumers and break the politician-contractor nexus.
Former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had reportedly gathered intelligence on around 30 of his MLAs having direct link with the “mining mafia” and one of his Cabinet colleagues had to “resign” after he had bagged mining contracts in the name of his staff.
AAP, which criticised the previous government for allegedly patronising the mining mafia, now faces similar charges.
No wonder the issue of illegal mining has become the talk of the town in Doaba and Majha, it’s a non-issue in the politically dominant Malwa.
Though the AAP government had started the concept of public mines, wherein any individual could get sand at Rs 5.50 per cubic feet, high transportation costs and high-profit margins of the contractors (in case of private mines) burnt a hole in the pockets of consumers.
Ropar
The illegal mining has played havoc with infrastructure as well as life of the people in Ropar.
While several people have lost their lives due to drowning in pits, a major bridge on the Nangal-Garhshankar road near Algran village had to be closed last year after its piers were exposed up to a depth of eight metres due to illegal mining in the Swan river. A bridge connecting Anandpur Sahib with Doaba was also damaged due to illegal activities on the Sutlej riverbed.
Harshant Verma, XEN, Mining Department, Ropar, said 133 FIRs had been registered against the people involved in illegal mining since April 1 last year. He said the sand was being sold at Rs 5.5 per cubic feet at two mining sites — Malana and Allowal. In open market, the sand is being sold at Rs 20 per cubic feet.
Amritsar
The high price of sand and aggregate (a mixture of sand and gravel) is bothering the residents of the holy city.
According to the District Survey report, there are 16 quarries of sand situated close to the Ravi and Beas.
All these quarries have been lying closed for the last one year following the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which stayed the extraction of minor minerals without obtaining an NOC from the Army and the BSF.
Officials of the Drainage Department said a public mining site at Baba Bakala would get operational from the first week of June. They said sand would be made available at Rs 5.5 per cubic feet at the mining site. At present, the demand is being met by quarries of Pathankot and Jalandhar. Officials said high transportation cost was a major reason behind exorbitant sand and gravel prices in the local market.
Patiala
Despite excavation of sand worth crores by the mining mafia allegedly in connivance with politicians, the illegal mining issue has failed to gain traction in Malwa. Posters, banners and even announcements made in villages do not raise this issue.
More than half a dozen villages adjoining Ghanaur, Sanaur and Shutrana are witnessing unbridled sand mining. Rajgarh, Nanhera, Chamaru and Bathonian, besides a few other villages have become the “hotbed of illegal mining” activities. More than 50 FIRs have been registered in the past six years.
Interestingly all four candidates of the major political parties who visited these illegal mining hubs have desisted from making any statement on the matter. Though they talk about the Ghaggar and floods, mining is not the focus anymore in this region.
(With inputs from Arun Sharma in Ropar, Neeraj Bagga in Amritsar and Aman Sood in Patiala)
