E-Paper
Punjab bans mining within 1km of International Border
In an affidavit before the high court, the state government also told the court that no screening-cum-washing plant or stone crushers would be allowed to operate within two kilometre of the border
The Punjab government has told the Punjab and Haryana high court that it has banned mining within one kilometre radius of the International Border with Pakistan.
In an affidavit before the high court, the state government also told the court that no screening-cum-washing plant or stone crushers would be allowed to operate within two kilometre of the border.
The state’s response came after the high court sought a report from it in August. The Border Security Force (BSF) and the Indian Army had told the court that damages caused due to illegal mining are likely to disrupt defence layouts along the border.
In the affidavit submitted by principal secretary, department of water resources, mining and geology, Krishan Kumar, the government has also told the court that a three-member committee has been set up to study the effect of mining activities on the flow of Ravi river and its behavioural changes. Impact of mining activities on the river flow upstream and downstream of mining sites in Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Amritsar would be studied. The panel will also examine the impact of mining operations on the infrastructure built in the riverbed area by the army, BSF and other departments in three districts.
The three members include retired chief engineers of water resources department, Sanjeev Suri, Ram Lal Sandhu and senior environment scientist of the department of science and technology Arun Kakkar.
The affidaivt says there are a total of 16 mining/desilting sites in these three districts in Ravi. As many as 11 are in Pathankot, three in Gurdaspur and two sites in Amritsar. There are valid environmental clearances for nine sites granted by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEF) and the state environment impact assessment authority (SEIAA). As of seven sites, de-silting has been allowed to be continued by the SEIAA till December 2022. However, after the HC order on banning mining activity in August 2022, no mining or desilting activity is being allowed.
The report reveals that there are seven mining/ desilting sites where distance from the border is less than 5km. Lowest distance between border and desilting site is of 1.6 km at Daddiyan in Amritsar and 2.61 km at Raji Beli in Gurdaspur.
The government has said that as mandated by the MoEF, no mining activity is being allwoed without prior environmental clearance for each mining site in three districts. As mandated by the MoEF, district survey reports are being prepared to give environmental clearance for future operations. For desilting, there is no requirement of environmental clearance as per the department’s understanding and SEIAA has allowed to run such sites as such till December 2022.
It further said that meetings have been held with army authorities and the BSF and their recommendations have been taken note of. They have suggested that in any mining activity up to 5km from the border, a no objection certificate (NOC) has to be obtained from the local army authorities. These suggestions are being considered, the court was told.
‘Infra projects getting delayed’
The government demanded that stay imposed by the high court on any mining activity be vacated as many important projects of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and railways are getting adversely affected. The demand is being raised for the same from the central government agencies and state government authorities and project proponents. They are writing letters to the department to provide construction material since projects of national importance are getting delayed, the court was told.
NHAI officials earlier this month met the chief minister regarding shortage of construction material in the state. Hence, the stay be vacated, the government said.
