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Rajesh Sharma
UNA, JULY 28
The illegal mining is going on in the Swan river resulting in more than 100 sand dumps that have come up on both banks of the river on 20-km stretch between Basal and Santoshgarh.
These dumps, which have mushroomed for the first time this year, have failed to attract the attention of law enforcement agencies. Going by the size of the dumps, each one is capable of filling dozens of tippers in one go.
According to the Himachal Pradesh Mining Act, sand can only be extracted from patches of land leased in the river. No heavy machinery can be used to extract sand and gravel. While both these rules are blatantly being flouted in the Swan, a new dimension in the form of sand dumps has recently come in.
Since there are no visible markings of areas leased for mining, heavy machinery and tippers are extracting sand throughout the 700-metre width and 55-km length of the the river from Marwari in Gagret to Santoshgarh in Una.
The material is brought to the roadside and dumped on land owned by private parties with which the lessee enters into an agreement to hire space for a dumping yard. From this dumping yard, tippers can freely and legally lift sand since these are located on private lands.
The Vidhan Sabha Estimates Committee, chaired by Jwalamukhi MLA Ramesh Dhawala, which visited Una a fortnight ago, had directed the district administration to immediately destroy the sand dumps since these were illegal.
There had been instances when illegal sand dumps were transported to panchayats for use in public works. The committee had also expressed concern on the large scale mining and the declining ground water reserves in Una district.
District Mining Officer Paramjit Singh said the Mining Act was not clear as to weather the dumping of material extracted from the river was legal or illegal. He said he had written to his officers for a clarification.
What Act says
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