Gurgaon stone crushers flout SC order

Apex court had banned mining in the area 5 years ago

NEW DELHI: When courts proposes, the government disposes. That’s exactly what happened to the Supreme Court’s directive five years ago banning mining in the Aravalis, which was later confined to only Gurgaon.

Reducing the apex court’s orders to dust, at least 110 stone crushers in Gurgaon and 70 in Mewat are busy making hay. The government has preferred to ignore the illegal stone crushing and unauthoriosed transportation of grits to townships and infrastructure projects like DMRC, HCBS and Delhi Airport and similar ventures in and around national capital region.

The mining is on in areas that have been declared forests by the Supreme Court as they have been notified under the Land Preservation Act. Moreover, in most of these quarries, plantation has been done under the European Union-funded Aravali Project.

According to an estimate, at least 2,000 trucks laden with illegally mined stone are supplied to these crushers every day. The mining is being done in almost all the quarries in the district of Mewat and Gurgaon during daytime and transportation takes place in the night.

The apex court’s directives over two decades ago that mining operations must be scientific and must comply with labour and safety laws has also been thrown to a six thanks to the apathetic state machinery.
 
Though concerned groups and individuals have been pleading with the court to ban the Rs500-crore “tax free” illegal industry, there has been little attempt by the government to stop the menace in Gurgaon. Ironically, the industry deprives the cash-crunched state’s exchequer of Rs75 crore annually by way of VAT only. If one includes other taxes, this figure would be much higher.

Though the court-appointed empowered committee for protection of forests has been in place for many years, it has ignored the depletion of tree cover caused by blatant encroachment by mining areas in Gurgaon and Faridabad belt.