NGT orders Rajasthan govt to rehabilitate villagers affected by mining

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered the Rajasthan government to set up a committee of competent officials to conduct investigations and rehabilitate victims of pollution away from limestone quarrying sites using crushers near Jodhpura village in Rajasthan.

In the Jodhpura village of Kotputli-Behror district in Rajasthan, a group of villagers protested under the Jodhpura-Mohanpura Sangharsh Samiti for more than 1,000 days against a cement plant in the village. The plant has a mine and two crushing plants.

The petitioners in the case, a group of villagers, had ordered the Rajasthan government to rehabilitate pollution victims away from the proximity of limestone mining with crushers, among others.

“There is an imminent impact on human habitation due to installation of stone crushers in the restricted area and the government primary school has already suffered damage in the form of cracks due to the blasting work carried out and there is great danger to the students in the school,” the NGT said in its November 3 judgment in the case.

The judgment was delivered by the NGT central zone bench in Bhopal, comprising bench member Sheo Kumar Singh and expert member Sudhir Kumar Chaturvedi.

“The Chief Secretary of Rajasthan has also been directed to constitute a committee of competent officials to carry out studies and measures to rehabilitate the pollution victims away from the limestone quarrying sites with the help of crushers,” it said.

The decision says that households in the area have been extensively affected, and most houses, even newly built ones, have developed cracks. “They have also suffered from noise and air pollution, which has already caused a large-scale impact on health and mental disorders,” the decision said.

The NGT ordered INR 50,000 to villagers whose houses were damaged under the official list and INR 20,000 to each villager under another list for environmental damage and health impacts.

“The project proponent/initiator (cement company) is further directed to immediately carry out water recharge and conservation works in and around the mining site and shall provide sufficient volume to compensate for the loss of ground water that has occurred after the commencement of the project to ensure the availability of water for future generations. The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) shall provide technical guidance in this regard and also monitor ground water recharge in the area and in in any case, not to take water from the soil should exceed the water recharge of the soil,” says the decision.

Neelam Ahlawalia, founder of People for the Aravalis, a group of citizens and activists fighting to protect the Aravali mountain range, said countless rural communities living in the lap of India’s oldest mountain range in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana are suffering, as are the villagers of Jodhpur. “Illegal mining is destroying the hills, rivers, forests and groundwater in this region. In addition, licensed mining operators are clearly breaking the rules. This must be stopped across the Aravalli range to protect what remains of Northwest India’s desertification barrier, critical water recharge area, pollution sink, climate regulator and wildlife habitat.” nature,” she said.

In September Hindu reported that as stone mining has brought rock crushing to villages in southern Haryana and northwestern Rajasthan, including the village of Jodhpur, over the past couple of decades, people have complained of health problems and falling water tables.