Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, July 16: Playing with the ecology and environment of world famous shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, the Jammu Kashmir Mineral Development Corporation is gearing up to begin mining in Trikuta Hills soon.
The mining activity for extraction of Magnesite shall be taken on the land that is very close to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, Adh-Kuwari and the Katra Town.
The mining activity is feared to adversely affect ecology of the area and prove hazardous for health of thousands of pilgrims visiting daily to the holy shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi besides flora and fauna there notwithstanding the Environment Clearance to the project by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The method of mining will be opencast mechanized involving drilling and blasting resulting into generation of huge fugitive dust as well as the apprehension of disturbing the strata of the hill slopes.
Ironically, no expert opinion has been sought by the Mineral Development Corporation regarding impact of mining over the shrine and pilgrims visiting there despite the fact that the land under mining at Chipprain near Katra belongs to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.
The mining lease has been granted by the J&K Government in favour of National Mineral Development Corporation for mining of Magnesite and Dolomite. The lease deed was signed on January 2, 1989 for 20 years and subsequently renewed on 20-5-2011 for a further period of 10 years. Though the total mining lease area in Magnesite zone is 1.4 sq kilometer, the area required for breaking the earth for mining purpose is 26.42 hectare.
According to the sources, the Environmental Clearance to the project has been obtained allegedly by playing fraud and concealment of facts. On the one hand, JKMDC stated that the mining was to be conducted on non-forest private land while on the other hand, it also had applied for getting forest clearance from the State Government, say the documentary evidences available with the Excelsior.
As per the File number 6-93/2011 WL, the JKMDC in its proposal before the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has projected that the mining shall be done on the non-forest private land under the ownership of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and number of trees to be cut is nil. However, at the same time, the Corporation applied for the Forest Clearance from the Forest Department and also unauthorizedly cut a large number of tress in order to carry out mining related works, sources added.
Even as the NMDC agreed for depositing an amount of Rs 2.36 crore as compensation to the Shrine Board for felling of trees and mining lease, the concerns of SMVDSB regarding long term adverse effect which this project might cause to the area under its jurisdiction were not addressed.
The distance between the mining area and Adh-Kuwari is just 0.8 km and that from the Bhawan, is 2.9 kms. The emission in the form of dust during mining is likely to affect the yatra as well as the surrounding habitation of village Panthal. The use of explosive in the process of mining also carries the apprehension of disturbing the strata of the hill slopes. The debris, which is going to be created during the mining is bound to affect the surrounding hill slopes that bear a green cover as on date.
However, these concerns have not been addressed in the Environment Clearance Report as the Mineral Developmental Corporation tactfully concealed these aspects in its project report submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Further, as per the provisions of Section 17(2) of the J&K Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board Act, 1988, the land vested in the Board can not be alienated without the resolution of the Board. However, as per the available information, lease of the land was allegedly granted without any resolution of the Board thus violating provisions of the SMVDSB Act, 1988.
Moreover, as per the report of the Indian Bureau of mines, the amount of Magnesite available in J&K is about 0.2 percent of the total Magnesite reserve in India. For this small quantity of Magnesite, the world famous shrine, its pilgrimage and the environment and ecology are being put at risk.
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