SHIMLA: To put a check on illegal mining and to study the stone crusher units on case-to-case basis, the Himachal Pradesh government has constituted a state-level high-powered committee to take action as per the observations and recommendations made in the report of the multi-sectoral expert committee and the records available with the departments concerned.
The high-powered committee would be headed by the director, industries.
The multi-sector committee, in its interim report submitted to the government, has submitted that along with the climatic change, the unscientific and illegal mining along the river beds was responsible for the natural calamity in the state that caused huge damage to life and property.
The other members of the high-powered committee will be director, environment, science and technology; chief engineer, PWD; a representative of the HP state pollution control board (not below the rank of environment engineer); district attorney/law officer, department of industries; and geologist of the zone concerned, geological wing, department of industries.
According to the notification issued by principal secretary (industries) R D Nazeem, the committee will decide over the operation of any such crusher unit which has been shut vide order dated August 23 this year after taking into account the various legal aspects, in the interest of the state, in consonance with the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 and Rules made thereunder and other applicable laws.
The multi-sectoral expert committee, in its report, also recommended the functioning of 50 stone crushers, out of 130 crushers that were shut down earlier. The panel also recommended: “In the eventuality of any change in the above list, the same shall have to be analysed by a committee at the highest level before allowing any additional permission.”
As such to implement the recommendations made by the multi-sectoral expert committee, a meeting was held on November 21 in the office chamber of industries minister Harshwardhan Chauhan and all the recommendations made by the committee were analysed with the help of available data. It was felt that the recommendations of the committee needed to be examined and verified by constituting a state-level high-powered committee.
Unprecedented landslides, flash floods and cloudbursts witnessed by the state during the monsoon season this year led to massive loss of life and property. Consequently, the state disaster management authority (disaster management cell) stopped the operations of stone crusher units established in the Beas basin till further orders or till such times the proper assessment of impact was made.
The order also intended to constitute a multi-sectoral expert committee to evaluate the cumulative impact of unscientific/illegal mining activities and also to assess and redefine distance limits based on the findings, thereby allowing more effective regulations and management of such operation to preserve the environment in river system and to avoid any such anthropogenic induced disasters in the state.
The committee had found that 63 out of the 130 stone crushers in the Beas basin were running without a valid lease. Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had recently said that these were being run through generator sets.
