Stone crusher near riverbed, Thural residents oppose mining

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Palampur, January 20

Residents of Bathan panchayat in Thural tehsil of Kangra district today protested against the decision of the state government to grant permission for mining and setting up a stone crusher near Neugal riverbed.

Later, the village panchayat passed a resolution to this effect and sent a copy to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu seeking his intervention. The panchayat also submitted copies of the resolution to the SDM Dheera Ashish Sharma and Divisional Forest Officer Nitin Patil, requesting them not to grant forest and environment clearances for the stone crusher. The villager said the panchayat had already rejected the proposal twice earlier and no NOC was given.

Addressing media persons here, panchayat pradhan Seema Devi and up-pradhan Sat Pal stated that villagers would not allow setting up of a stone crusher in their village. They said if the mining was allowed it would be a health hazard and also cause environmental degradation in the area. Besides, the proposed mining site will pose a threat to the strategic bridge linking 20 villages and cremation grounds.

They disclosed that a Division Bench of HP High Court comprising the then Chief Justice Mohammed Rafiq and Justice Sandeep Sharma last year also took suo moto cognizance of the letter written by the residents of Thural in this regard and treated their letter as a PIL. They added that the villagers in the letter had opposed the setting up of a stone crusher in their village in violation of rules. However, this year the state government had again initiated a process for the leasing out of land for mining in the village.

They said the villagers were against the grant of permission by the state government to set up a stone crusher in their village. No one in the village was in favor of setting up the stone crusher.