“Pucca Morcha” against stone crusher near residential area enters 39th day
The dharna by members of the Mining Roko Jamin Bachao Sangharsh Committee against an illegal stone crusher continued for the 39th day at Patti Navne Ghar village here on Tuesday.
They are protesting against the stone crusher reportedly being installed illegally near a residential area at Patti Navne Ghar village. They said when the crusher’s installation was started, villagers and the panchayat had written to the SDM, Mukerian, but the Mukerian administration reportedly did not care to take action.
After this, the villagers submitted a demand letter to the DC, Hoshiarpur, and the Punjab Pollution Board under the banner of Mining Roko Jamin Bachao Sangharsh Committee. Despite this, the construction of the stone crusher continued.
In protest, the villagers sat on a permanent morcha from February 1. Speaking during the morcha, Gurpreet Singh, president of the Mining Roko Jamin Bachao Sangharsh Committee, said he belongs to an economically poor farmer. No department of the Punjab Government was listening to him. In the past, he went to every office with his grievance, but no officer took his grievance seriously. “If this stone crusher starts, then our village will be afflicted with diseases and problems. Therefore, we the people of the area with our families will continue with the morcha until the crusher is closed,” he said.
Dharminder, general secretary of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Naujwan Sabha, said villagers of Mukerian subdivision and Dasuya’s Kandi area have been witnessing illegal mining for the last 15 years.
