Bridges to plunder

THE Yamuna river in Haryana is under siege from the silent, destructive force of illegal sand mining. Around Palwal, temporary bridges have sprung up across the river, constructed without official sanction or environmental clearance. Their sole purpose? To provide the sand mafia direct access to the riverbed, accelerating the looting of its sand and decimating its ecosystem. Worse still, the emerging turf wars between rival mining groups threaten to turn the region into another lawless zone, as seen in Rajasthan’s notorious crusher belts. Local residents and environmental activists have sounded the alarm. While the state government claims “zero tolerance” towards illegal mining, the ground reality suggests complicity or, at best, gross negligence. Despite contracts being awarded for sand mining, not one contractor has reportedly secured the mandatory environmental clearance.