Palampur: Illegal mining rampant, Beas tributary changes its course

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, January 8

Unabated illegal mining is harming the Mol Khud, a tributary of the Beas that feeds a number of drinking water supply schemes and irrigation channels in lower areas of the Palampur region. The illegal mining has not only led to the river changing its course, but also rendered its riverbed unstable, thus disturbing the biodiversity of the region.

Paplaha, Dhirh and Bhilana are the worst-affected areas where the mafia has played havoc with nature. A recent visit to the area showed hundreds of deep and wide pits on riverbeds. These pits, formed because of unabated extraction of sand and stone, have affected the natural flow of water in the river. The normal flow of the Mol Khud has been diverted to extract stones with the help of JCB machines.

Villagers claim that people involved in illegal sand mining intentionally divert the natural flow of water to take out more boulders and gravel. This leads to change in the course of the river. They say despite repeated complaints at CM’s helpline number 1100, no action has been taken and illegal mining continues as usual. They add that hundreds of acres of fertile land in the area had gone barren because of illegal mining.

“They (mining mafia) use JCB machines to extract sand and stones out of khuds, resulting in deep trenches in rivers. The water level has gone low. This does not bother the diggers as they continue the extraction of stone round the clock,” say Ashwani Gautam and Varun Bhuria, two environmentalists fighting against the mining mafia in Thural, Jaisinghpur and Sullah to protect the local environment and biodiversity.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests had issued guidelines in 2010 about sand mining, which were upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012. According to the guidelines, sand mining cannot be allowed beyond three meters of depth alongside the riverbed. Moreover, digging should be stopped the moment water starts surfacing in the pit. However, there is no one to check the impact of illegal mining in the area.

Palampur District Mining Officer Rajiv Kalia, in response to a WhatsApp message, says he would look into the matter. He says the state government had leased out some part of the Mol Khud to a stone crusher owner, while mining was totally banned in the remaining part. He adds that he has directed his field staff to visit the spot and stop illegal mining.

The NGT had recently said the removal of minerals from riverbeds was posing a threat to the flow of rivers, forests on the banks and to the environment. The tribunal stepped in to ban sand mining on riverbeds across India without the Environment Ministry’s clearance, saying illegal extraction of sand was leading to huge monetary and environmental losses.

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