Computer Baba camping in MP with 300 saints to stop ‘illegal’ mining

Sehore district collector Ajay Gupta denied any illegal mining was taking place in the area and the MP mining minister said the job of dealing with illegal mining, if any, should be best left to administration.

Narmada river trust chairman Namdeo Das Tyagi, who is popularly known as ‘Computer Baba’, has begun a dharna with 300 saints on the banks of the Narmada in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore district, with an aim to stop “illegal sand mining”.

Computer Baba has accused the MP government of failing to check illegal mining of sand from the banks of Narmada river (Mujeeb Faruqui/HT Photo/File)

Tyagi said he and the saints had decided to take matters in their own hands since the Congress-led state government had “failed” to stop sand mining, which, he claims “flourished” during the tenure of the previous BJP government.

The ‘Computer Baba’ supported the Congress in the state assembly elections and was made the chairman of a trust tasked with conservation of the three rivers of Narmada, Kshipra and Mandakini in March this year.

“I have supported the state government to save the holy rivers but even after 11 months, the illegal mining with heavy machines is rampant on the banks of Narmada. I have decided with saints to sit here to expose the mining until concrete measures are taken,” Tyagi said.

“There is no illegal mining in the area. Baba is holding a saints congregation to conserve the river through plantation. On Sunday, he did plantation on the bank of river Narmada,” Gupta said.

Madhya Pradesh’s minister of mining, Pradeep Jaiswal, said the job of dealing with illegal mining, if any, should be best left to the state administration and Computer Baba’s statements in this regard won’t help.