Mand area battles floods, mafia & mining mayhem

The serene Beas river belt in Himachal’s lower Kangra region is under siege. Illegal mining on private lands, river terraces and even the riverbed has snowballed into one of the most alarming ecological crises in the Mand area, impacting Indora and Fatehpur Assembly constituencies. What was once fertile farmland and safe habitation is now threatened by rampant excavation, deep trenches and unchecked flooding.

For years, residents, along with the Mand Area Kisan Sangharsh Samiti and environmental groups, have demanded the government declare the Mand area a “No Mining Zone.” Their voices, however, have gone largely unheard. The result: unabated illegal mining has worsened deluges and inundations in the past month, ravaging homes, fields and livelihoods.

Inquiries reveal that much of the illegal activity originates from stone crushers based across the Punjab border. Units in Rey-Pattan, Riyali, Beli and Mand Bahadpur panchayats of Fatehpur have become epicentres of illicit operations. Faulty mining policies in Punjab — where licences for crushers are granted without mandatory leases — have created a loophole that allows operators to exploit Himachal’s resources.

Behind this brazen activity lies a powerful nexus of mining mafias and local collaborators. “The Punjab Government is virtually enabling theft of Himachal’s minerals,” charged Fatehpur MLA Bhiwani Singh Pathania, who has consistently raised the issue in the state Assembly.

Pathania warned of an even bigger danger: a crusher operating just 750 metres from the 52-gate Shahnehar barrage in Chagdwan, Punjab. Not only does this flout the legal requirement of a 3-km no-crushing zone downstream, but it also jeopardises the barrage’s structural integrity.

“This unit runs on a generator without any official power connection. If the barrage is damaged due to illegal mining, the consequences will be catastrophic — flooding Mand area, Indora, Fatehpur and even parts of Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran,” Pathania cautioned.

Local farmers and environmentalists echo these fears. Vijay Kumar, president of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, and activist Hans Raj revealed that seven crushers in Chak Mirpur village of Talwara tehsil have been systematically plundering the Mand area. “They extract stones and boulders with unscientific methods, leaving behind trenches as deep as 10 to 15 feet,” they said.

Night after night, truckloads of illegally mined material cross the border. Once crushed, the finished products are sold in Punjab’s booming construction market, robbing Himachal of revenue and eroding its fragile ecology. “The damage is not just financial. It is ecological destruction of the worst kind,” Hans Raj lamented.

The gravity of the situation was underscored in the Assembly on the final day of the recent session, when MLA Pathania tabled a file of evidence against the cross-border crushers. He urged the state to act decisively — either by engaging with the Punjab Chief Minister or filing a Civil Writ Petition (CWP) in the Himachal Pradesh or Punjab and Haryana High Courts. He insisted that officials such as the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP of Hoshiarpur be made respondents in the petition.

In response, Industry Minister Harshvardhan Chouhan assured that the state government would pursue the matter with Punjab and, if necessary, approach the courts.

For the people of Mand area, the issue is not merely about illegal mining—it is about survival. Their fields are being gouged out, their homes flooded, and their environment destroyed. What remains uncertain is whether political will can outpace the mafia’s machinery. Until then, Mand’s fate hangs precariously between the roar of the Beas and the greed of crushers across the border.