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Written by: JK Monitor News Network

Category: ENVIRONMENT

Published: 24 October 2023

• Seeks action against mining mafia - authorities nexus  

RAMGARH: Apni Party Provincial President, Jammu, and Former Minister, S. Manjit Singh has accused mining mafia of illegal extracting natural resources that has resulted in the depletion of ground water level and damage to the road infrastructure due to the constant movement of huge dumpers 24/7 on village roads.

Manjit Singh was addressing a meeting in village Chak Salaria in Ramgarh. The meeting was organized by the District President Legal Cell, Samba, Adv Sahil Bharti. During the meeting, the participants raised the issue of how the mining contractors with the alleged help of the officials in the administration facilitated the looting of the natural resources especially Basantar River and Devak River.

The loot of the natural resources continues under the nose of the administration yet no action against the contractors is taken by the authorities because they are hand in glove with the contractors (mining).

“It’s because of unscientific and illegal mining continues on the Riverbeds of both Basantar and Devak Rivers, the ground water level has dropped and the hand pumps have dried in many villages alongside these Rivers,” he said.

He said that the villages have raised these issues many times, yet the authorities are unable to address their concern. “The administration should hand over the mining contracts to the panchayats in their respective villages so that natural resources can be extracted to a limited level without harming the ground water level and other resources,” he said.

He said that the mining mafia has also inflated the rates of the material more than the defined rates approved by the authorities. “They float with defined rules, and the authorities watch helplessly. We hardly see any action against them,” he added, while demanding that the allotment of tenders for mining should be given to the Panchayats to ensure transparency and justice with the villagers.

He also alleged that the dumpers ply the entire night and the day have damaged road infrastructure in villages.  “The roads in villages are not capable of handling huge loads of these big dumpers fully loaded with material. Therefore, they get damaged, and it affects the normal life of the villagers in many areas of Samba district,” he said, seeking attention of the administration.

He demanded that these damaged roads should be repaired, and action should be taken against the mining contractors operating illegally and extracting material beyond the defined limits and harassing the villagers.