More than 500 villagers on Saturday protested against the stone crushers who have been licensed to mine the agriculturally-rich region of Tehri district’s Maletha gram sabha.
The memorandum given to Chief Minister Harish Rawat, on Saturday, read: “The stone crushers working in the area will [be the cause of dust and health problems which will] result in migration of the population…here most of the people are completely dependent on the earnings from the agricultural produce [and the dust from the stone crushers would destroy agriculture].”
Environmentalist Anil Prakash Joshi, founder of the Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO), was present during the protest. He said, “The Maletha village is known for its agricultural produce. The area used to be barren, but, by the efforts of one Madho Singh Bhandari in the 16th century, agricultural was revived here. The government is planning to destroy the place which has immense historic importance.”
“By allowing mining in the region, and with the stone crushers ruining the fragile mountains, the area is on its way to destruction,” Dr. Joshi said. The memorandum states that some villagers were completely dependent on the earnings from the agricultural produce. But, the mining would destroy the irrigated land.
Dr Joshi said, “The protest was to make the government realise the hazards of allowing stone crushers to function in an agriculturally rich area. Not only will the dust from the crushers destroy the fertile land, it might also cause health problems in the locals.”
In the memorandum the villagers have requested the State government to cancel the licence of the five stone crushers that are functioning in the area.
