Students highlight menace of rampant illegal mining

Tribune News Service

Pathankot, December 10

Students of Army Public School, Nangal Bhut, presented their project on ‘Effects of sand and gravel mining from Chakki river on local communities’ at a state level function recently. Illegal mining is rampant on the riverbed of Chakki, Ravi and Beas in Pathankot.

Students presented the project at the state-level children’s science congress at Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College. The school team said the illegal mining had disturbed the ecological balance in the district. The team clinched the third spot in the contest that witnessed 66 school teams from 22 districts.

The project has now been selected for the national level science congress to be held at Science City, Ahmedabad, from December 27 till 31.

The project had highlighted the problems being faced by the residents, including the depleting water table, erosion of agriculture land and washing away of houses of Belichanga village. It also focussed on soil erosion of government properties like the railway bridge in Pathankot road outside the military hospital.

School principal Arati Patel felicitated the students.