Illegal bundh over Yamuna removed in Yamunanagar

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, September 27

The Irrigation Department authorities removed an unauthorised makeshift bundh (passage) on the Yamuna on Saturday.

The bundh was allegedly constructed by a mining contractor in Gumthala village in violation of directions issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Satyendra Singh, SDO of Hathni Kund Barrage (HKB) Division, Jagadhri, a wing of Irrigation and Water Services Department, said: “After receiving a tipoff, I visited the mining site in Gumthala village yesterday and got the bundh removed. I also warned the contractor that if he constructed another bundh again, a case will be registered against him.”

Sources said there were several legal mining sites in Jathlana area of the district, but some of the mining contractors constructed unauthorised makeshift bundhs or passages across the Yamuna for mining activities.

Waryam Singh, state president of Haryana Anti-Corruption Society, said: “It takes 10-12 days to construct a makeshift passage or a bundh on the river. Several mining contractors construct illegal makeshift bundhs to undertake legal and illegal mining activities in the riverbed. These can’t be constructed without the connivance of authorities of the local administration.”

As per the NGT directions, such makeshift bundhs or passages can’t be constructed across the Yamuna as they create obstruction in the main stream.