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Havoc in Aravalis as Supreme Court norms are ignoredBy Riti, Section GN
Every time you see a swanky new building coming up in Delhi, think of the ravaged Aravalis, savagely slashed along the red quartize face, innards gouged out. Think of the labourers working in dust-laden pits and stone crushers for 12 hours, if not longer, for Rs 100 a day -- work that, more often than not, leaves them with tuberculosis or silicosis a few years down the line.
Think of Khori Jamalpur and Sirohi -- the two legal stone quarries with a cumulative area of about 267 hectares, adjacent to the Pali-Sohna state highway where it cuts across backward Mewat, bringing to its people some temporary easy cash, but devastating their environment for successive generations. If you saw this bombed out tract of hills, just 36 km from Delhi, you would admit that the supply of stone chips for all constructions in the NCR comes at a high price. Perhaps, unacceptably high. The mines were started here with the Supreme Court's nod and also its guidelines for mining. When the apex court decided on Monday that the entire Aravali range in Gurgaon district would first be mapped by satellite imagery before new areas are opened up for mining, it overlooked this part of the Faridabad district.
 If it were to map this area too, and back that up with a ground-level survey, it would find that its own guidelines have been thrown to the winds. The world's oldest mountain range, standing guard against the desertification of the Indo-Gangetic plains, has been virtually decimated in these parts. Mining here doesn't have environment clearance. While the Central Pollution Control Board said in reply to a RTI application that the mines here don't have an NOC from them, the Haryana Pollution Control Board claimed to TOI that since ``minor minerals'' (quartzite) were being mined, no NOC is required. The violations appear to be many. We saw child labour in the mines, quarry and crusher workers working without mandatory safety equipment like masks, ear plugs and body suits. We were told about scant medical facilities, common respiratory diseases. We also saw boulder-laden trucks -- 3,200 of them carry away 1,000 tonnes of stones every day, according to the manager of the Khori Jamalpur mines -- using the Ballabhgarh-Pali-Sohna state highway, reducing it to a cratered mess, when they are supposed to take another road, specially built for the trucks by cutting through the Aravalis. Cops ignore mining violations: SP While the Supreme Court on Monday took note of the ecological concern over mining in Aravali range in Gurgaon district and ordered the region to be mapped by satellite imagery before new areas are opened up for mining, at Khori Jamalpur and Sirohi mines in Faridabad it's business as usual. The two mines yield stones worth Rs 2.17 crore every day, according to NGO Shakti Vahini that works in this area. For every truck that goes out of the area, the company makes a profit of Rs 6,800 -- it pays Rs 1,200 as tax to the government and sells the stones for Rs 8,000. When TOI spoke to Faridabad superintendent of police Srikant Yadav about the violation by the trucks, he said: ``They are supposed to use the inner road but the SHO sometimes asks for permission to let them use the main road during the rains when the road meant for trucks is all slush and mud.'' He rang back to say that trucks carrying stone chips were allowed, but not those with boulders. We mostly saw trucks heaped with boulders on the highway. On being told that the main road is used even at such times when the inner road is motorable, the SP said: ``It's a violation that smacks of connivance with the local police.'' Gurgaon deputy commissioner Vijender Singh, however, said there is no rule about trucks not being allowed on the road. ``How can you exclude vehicles from a state highway? There are plans to get a cement-concrete road there constructed on BoT basis,'' he said. Click on Full Story for More.
Inside the mines, it's a shocking spectacle of a mountain range systematically being torn piece by piece to fuel development. ``We build Delhi,'' said a proud Surender Sharma, manager of Khori Jamalpur stone quarry. That he surely does, even if it is to the ruin of the Aravalis.
The mandatory afforestation that mines are expected to do is sketchy here -- the sturdy jatropha and Gulmohar have been planted on heaps of malba and waste near the road but not on the Aravali hills for the simple reason that by the time mining is over, there is nothing left in the soil to sustain plant life. As we went deeper into the mining area, we found the remunerative jatropha had been replaced by keekar, a coloniser, known to deplete any soil of nutrients. This, despite a stringent ``sustainable development'' clause set down by the Supreme Court. DC Vijender Singh said whether the Supreme Court guidelines on afforestation were being followed or not was something to be ensured by the department of mining and geology, government of Haryana. ``I will get it checked nevertheless,'' he added helpfully. M P Sharma, mining engineer with the state's department of mining and geology, gave a clean chit to the mines. ``Everything that happens there is completely scientific. The water table is 80-90 metres below and the mines never reach that deep,'' he claimed, even though the mine staff itself said mining stopped only 3 metres above the ground water level. And when the water table was breached, pumps were used to pump out the water and go deeper. The lease period of both the mines is set to expire in February 2009, but mine manager Surender Sharma said that an application has already been moved for a twoyear extension. If the extension is given, the ruin of the area will be still more extreme. Engineer M P Sharma denied any application for an extension of lease: ``They have only asked for permission to increase their yield from 5 lakh tonnes per month to 9 lakh tonnes. We are considering it.'' The mines manager, however, said the output was already 8 lakh tonnes a month. The DC is categorical that the only complaints he has ever received from the area are about exploitation of workers but ``inquiries have showed there is no truth is them. They have all the facilities and we have organized regular health checkups that do not show that they are surviving from any specific disease.'' Nishi Kant, a volunteer with the NGO Shakti Vahini, says that crusher workers cannot continue beyond a few years as they fall prey to tuberculosis or silicosis because they constantly breathe in fine stone dust that line the lungs, soon making them virtually useless. We spoke to a worker, who did not wish to be identified. ``We live in cramped rooms,'' he said. ``There are no medical facilities here. If it's a minor ailment, they give some medicines but the moment they realise it is something complicated, we are just asked to go home and return when we are ok. Few do.'' Source:The Times Of India September4th,2008.
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