Stone crushing awaits govt nod in Kumbh area

Sun, May 18 12:45 AM

Stone-crushing unit owners are waiting for a report by a government committee on the status of two quarries here. These quarries, some claim, fall within the Kumbh mela area where stone cutting is banned.

The owners are hoping the committee would uphold their view that the quarries are not within the mela area, and the ban imposed on mining in these as the committee was constitution on April 1 would be lifted. The committee would submit its report within three weeks, said the government order (GO) banning quarrying until its submission.

The GO followed a long agitation by Matri Sadan demanding ban on quarrying in the two lots. Swami Nigamanand of the Ashram went on a hunger strike for 73 days.

The district administration had allowed quarrying in Missarpur and Ajitpur quarries as these in their view were outside the mela area. The committee appointed to report on their status comprised Chief Revenue Commissioner N.S. Napalchyal (chairman) and Urban Development Secretary Shatrughna Singh (member).

It is yet to submit its report though more than a month and half has passed. The stone crushing unit owners are getting restless due to the delay.

"The state government is incurring huge financial loss as a result of the ban," Gyanesh Kumar of Himalaya Stone Crushers said regretting the delay. Documentary evidence received from the government departments under Right to Information Act states banning quarrying in Kumbh area is illegal, he said.

As per the Kumbh Mela Area Control and Management Committee, Haridwar, it "neither has the GO banning mining in the kumbh mela area available with it, nor it is aware of any such ban".

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