The CAG report tabled within the Uttarakhand Legislative Meeting factors out that many fines for criminal activity have merely not been collected. “The [Industrial Development] Division, due to this fact, suffered income lack of INR 1.24 crore as a consequence of not imposing the required penalty on unlawful mining/storage,” it says.
Sand mining and harmful floods in Himachal Pradesh
The neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh was even worse hit than Uttarakhand in latest floods. The state authorities has estimated the injury brought on by catastrophic rainfall between 24 June and 31 August 2023 at INR 120 billion (USD 1.44 billion), with greater than 360 folks killed.
Elevated water ranges within the Beas River triggered floods in Kullu, Mandi, Hamirpur districts in Himachal Pradesh, and downstream within the neighbouring state of Punjab. There have been complaints of unlawful mining within the Beas which main the river to vary its course, inflicting floods. Almost 12,000 villages in 20 districts throughout Punjab and 65 lives had been misplaced within the floods. Authorities have largely targeted on encroachment on the riverbed as the primary cause for the dimensions of the catastrophe.
Vikramaditya Singh, minister of public works within the Himachal Pradesh state authorities, tells The Third Pole: “Together with heavy rains within the state, the situation of the rivers additionally deteriorated as a consequence of unlawful mining. That is additionally an essential cause for the suffered loss. The erosion elevated as a result of the banks had been broken and the river modified its course. Taking a lesson from these incidents, on August 23, we now have stopped all of the stone crushers operating on Beas and its tributaries. We may even take related motion in opposition to crushers working on different rivers.”
