Rampant mining threatens ecology in Moga

Kulwinder Sandhu

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Tribune News Service

Moga, February 26

Indiscriminate mining in the Sutlej riverbed in Moga district, in violation of the environmental laws, is threatening local ecology and infrastructure of the area.

Scores of trucks and tractor-trailers overloaded with sand pass through the area on the kutcha roads inside the river embankment. Flouting the environmental laws, the roads have been constructed by the mining mafia for movement of heavy vehicles. At some places, these passages have also diverted the streams of water, making the area dry for easy lifting of sand with huge excavators and JCB machines.

The link roads of nearby villages have also been damaged due to the movement of heavy machinery.

Jaspinder Kaur Aulakh, sarpanch of Takhtuwala village located on the rive bank, said, “Hundreds of trucks and tractor-trailers move out from the riverbed every day. All trucks are overloaded with sand. The overloaded vehicles had damaged the roads of all nearby villages. Despite many complaints by the local residents, the local administration has not taken any action against the mining mafia for violation of the transportation rules and damaging the local infrastructure.”

Frentic mining is going on at Sanghera, Bassian and other areas.

Though the use of heavy machinery to excavate sand and gravels has been banned by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the district administration has granted permission for the JCB machines’ use at some locations allotted to the contractors by the state government. The rest of the mining operations have to be carried out manually as per the rules.

Further, the mining operations are carried throughout the day and night even as the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has fixed time-frame for excavation during summers from 6 am to 7 pm and in winters from 7 am to 5 pm.

The excavation in rivers could be carried out maximum up to 10-ft (3 metres) depth, but sand is excavated beyond the limit at almost all mining sites. There are 20 to 30 ft craters on the riverbed due to the indiscriminate mining. The mining mafia takes advantage of the monsoon period when the mining operations come to a halt and these trenches fill up naturally with sand and water due to heavy flow of water.

Moga Mining Officer Gursimran Singh Gill said de-silting exercise was going on at the Adra Mann area in the Sutlej belt due to which trucks and tractor-trailers move on the kutcha road on the embankment. “We have allowed the use of heavy machinery for de-silting the river streams as per the regular practice. The sand excavated from de-silting exercise will be deducted from the total quantity of sand excavation allocated to the contractors for lifting,” he said.

He said excavation of sand was yet to begin at Bassian, Sanghera and Chak Tarewala sites due to some legal implications. It will start once the de-silting exercise was completed by the contractors, he added.

With regard to damage to local infrastructure, he said contractors regularly repair the river embankment. “We have security deposits of all contractors. In case, they do not repair the embankment, we can forfeit it and carry out repairs,” he said.