Category: Mining

Mining dependents, ramponnkars reject Modi’s ‘false assurances’

Herald Goa | April 12, 2019
PANJIM: In a major embarrassment to the BJP, the mining dependents and  ramponnkars in Goa, rejected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s poll promises as ‘lies and false assurances’ ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
While the mining dependents said that the statements were such political assurances, the fishermen dismissed them and called the Prime Minister a liar.
Goa Mining People’s Front President, Puti Gaonkar said, “These are political assurances keeping in mind the elections. It all depends on what they file in Supreme Court (referring to the abolition matter, which is challenged by mining companies). Next week we will come to know whether he is serious or not.”

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Mining in Jharkhand threatens locals in their own land

Down To Earth | Srestha Banerjee, Rajeev Ranjan | 10 April 2019

Residents of the state’s mining areas are unemployed and are threatened of being jailed when they ask for work

Our car stopped at the bent of narrow roads through Chotanagra panchayat. As we walked down, a group of 15 people was waiting in Dhobil village gathered by Lakhan Soren, a community volunteer who works for community rights and empowerment in the area. “More will join us soon,” said Soren as we were there to find out the state of mining-affected communities in the area. He pointed towards Dhobil iron ore mines, a little more than a kilometre away where some of the people were working. Read more

Mindless mining

Dainik Tribune | April 11, 2019

The ugly head of the sand mafia has risen again in Haryana with the detection of illegal 50-feet-deep digging along the Yamuna embankment at Tajewala village in Yamunanagar. It threatens to wreak havoc in the coming monsoon as the damaged embankment may impact the Hathnikund barrage and lead to floods in the surrounding area. As truckloads of the mineral dredged by heavy machinery criss-cross the state with impunity, it is an open secret that the unlawful activity is rampant. Alarmed by the ravaging plunder, the NGT had put a blanket ban on sand mining on the banks of the Yamuna in 2015, pending an investigation. In 2012, the Supreme Court had in a bid to curb illegal mining that is prevalent across the country, notably banned all sand mining without the approval of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Read more

Illegal mining at Bhagowal village; three tippers seized, 5 booked

The Tribune | April 10, 2019

The state government’s claims regarding the prevention of illegal mining were proved futile when a case of illegal mining was exposed in a nearby Bhagowal village.

In the village, the sand mafia with the help of a earth mover had been illegally excavating several tippers of sand daily while the department concerned was in deep slumber. Today, after getting information from residents of the area, mediapersons reached the spot and found that at various places, 10 to 12-ft deep ditches were dug and sand was excavated from there. Read more

Aravallis broken beyond repair

Down To Earth | Jitendra, Shagun Kapil | 09 April 2019

Illegal mining has ravaged the mountain range in the past few decades. Down To Earth investigates the loss and traces the legal developments in Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi

Abdal khan is a prisoner of geography. A resident of Nimli village in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, Khan, who claims to be over 100 years old, is mostly bedridden in his home nestled in the foothills of the Aravallis. He stays quiet most of the time, but a mention of the Aravallis triggers an outburst. “I have accompanied British officials on hunting tours on these hills. Where we are sitting now was once a thick forest,” he says. There are only a few like him alive, who can remember the once ecologically rich Aravallis and also witnessed its gradual demise. His youngest daughter, Dini Bi, who is half his age, lives some 50 km north in Banban village of the same district, also located in the mountain range, which has almost disappeared. While Khan laments the loss of forests, his daughter is not so mournful. “It was good when the mountain was there. But mining gave us jobs,” she says. Read more

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