Order creates scare, mining operations in Una to shut

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, August 19

Heavy penalties ranging up to Rs 4 lakh that would now be imposed in Una district on any vehicle or excavator found to be mining illegally in Swan river is likely to bring river mining to a halt. The stone crusher owners are now alleging that they might have to close down operations in the wake of new regulations.

Dimple Thakur, president of stone crusher owners association of Una, alleged that the entire mining industry of Una might have to shut operations due to current orders issued by DC Una. He said that mining Act of Himachal states that no mining can be carried out mechanically. It only allows mining manually. Practically it was not possible to carry out mining and fill even a single tipper manually.

So, as per the orders issued by DC Una, any tipper JCB machine even found mining in legally allotted leased land, it would be penalized with fine up to Rs 4 lakh. In repetition of offence half of showroom price of machinery would be imposed as fine. The order has created scare among the owners of JCB machines, tractor trolley owners and tipper owners in Una district. They are now not ready to use their machinery for mining, he said.

Thakur wondered why Una district has been targeted specifically with such heavy penalties on mining. The only beneficiary of the mining being stopped in Una district would be mining mafia of Punjab. Irony is that while Himachal mining lease holders would not be able mine in Swan river just a few hundred meters away the mining mafia of Punjab was mining with JCB and Poklane machines in Swan river.

With the mining in Una stopping in operations, people of Himachal would have to procure material at higher prices from Punjab. Now the material mined from Swan river in Punjab would be legal in Una district while any material taken out using JCB machines by Una industry would be illegally and attract huge fines, he said.

Thakur alleged that about 5,000 youth employed in mining industry in Una are likely to be rendered jobless.

Meanwhile, the tractor trolley owners who used to ferry sand and gravel in Una district have gone off road leading to shortage of sand and gravel in the region. The shortage has affected many private and public developmental projects.

The cost of sand has also increased by about 50 per cent. The cost sand has increased from Rs 18 per square feet to Rs 30 per square feet. Deputy Commissioner Una Raghav Sharma, as per the NGT orders, had yesterday notified that any vehicle or excavator found to be mining illegal in Swan would attract penalty up to a maximum of 4 lakh.