Lease cancelled, illegal mining goes on unabated in Palampur

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, June 27

Though the state government has cancelled various lease permits for mining in the Neugal river, illegal mining and quarrying is going on unchecked in lower areas of Palampur such as Sulaha and Thural. This has resulted in large-scale environmental degradation in the region.

This illegal activity is not only creating environmental imbalance but also causing huge losses to the state exchequer, as the state is losing royalty in several crores of rupees every year.

Illegal and unscientific mining in Dheera and Jaisinghpur subdivisions has also resulted in deforestation, landslides and flash floods. Over 25,000 hectares have been affected by such activities in the region, resulting in drastic reshaping of the landscape.

Illegal mining is also posing a serious threat to irrigation and drinking water supply schemes, local paths, village roads, bridges and cremation grounds in the region. Bridges on rural roads have become vulnerable due to continuous mining in riverbeds nearby. A newly constructed bridge near Bair Ghatta in Thural sub-tehsil is under threat as heavy machinery can be seen extracting sand and stones in the Neugal river.

Cases related to illegal mining in the Kangra valley are already in various courts and the National Green Tribunal, still government agencies have allegedly become mute spectators and are allowing the mafia to extract stones and sand from rivers and rivulets.

Awa, Binwa and Neugal rivers in the Palampur region have turned into gold mines for the mining mafia, which has been extracting material in broad daylight though their lease agreements with the state government had been cancelled.