Soap stone mining lead to land subsidence, cracks in houses in Bageshwar district
Soap stone mining lead to land subsidence, cracks in houses in Bageshwar district
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, Sept 6
After Joshimath, Bageshwar district of Kumaon region of Uttarakhand is facing threat of land subsidence and landslides due largescale soapstone mining and barren ditches left untreated after mining.
Jigyasha Bisht , District Mining Officer of Bageshwar, who visited the Kande village with geologist and other revenue officers on September 3, 2024 on the complaints of cracks in some houses, said that despite mining having closed from past two years in that village 7-8 houses have developed cracks.
According to mining officer, National Green Tribunal (NGT) has not taken any cognizance of any such event in the district.
Mining officer says that over 25 villages of mining areas of district are prone to land subsidence.” Most of the houses developing cracks are near mined areas,” said Mining officer. Most of the mining areas where the cracks have developed are areas given by villagers to the miners with a No Objection Certificate (NOC).
Out of a total 402 villages in the district, over 100 villages have been affected by threats of land subsidence as soap stone mines lie adjacent to these villages,” said Ghanshyam joshi, a local resident of Bageshwar district.
According to Shikha Suyal, District Disaster Management Officer of Bageshwar, they have identified over 131 families of 11 villages in Bageshwar district to be rehabilitated as land subsidence and landslides have endangered their habitation in these villages.”More survey of such villages is on the anvil,” said DDMO, Bageshwar.
District officials of the concerned departments on Septeber 3, 2024 visited the Kalika temple region of Kàpkot block on some complaints made to District Magistrate during her “Janata Darbar” programme held some days ago, but found no violation of mining rules there. “the mines in Kalika temple region of Kàpkot closed two years ago but the cracks in the houses are still occurring,”said The mining officer who led the officers team to village.
Balwant Bhauriyal, former Kapkot MLA and a senior BJP leader also owner of a soapstone mine in Saneti region of Bageshwar, said that the soapstone mines are run on personal fields given by villagers for mine purposes to the miners, therefore nothing has been done against the will of the villagers. “The district had 121 soapstone mines, out of these only 50 mines are running presently, rest have been closed,” said Bhauriyal.
The region of Kàpkot and Kanda blocks have maximum mines and due to nearby mining, the villages suffer from land subsidence resulting in cracks in houses almost every year during monsoon months,” said Chandra Shekhar Dwivedi, a scientist studying the effects of soapstone mining in Bageshwar villages.
According to Dwivedi, the miners violate the norms by resorting to blasting and using JCB machines in connivance with the villagers who get compensated and due to understanding between both the parties the villagers seldom protest.
“Most of the villagers get jobs in these mines or get compensated of their fields and redressed by mining trust of district but do not complain of damages to their fields or houses,” said Dwivedi.
“On the basis of complaints given by villagers at “Janata Darbar” of District Magistrate, we have surveyed Pandey Kanyal village of Kanda sub-division houses and in Kalika temple of Pandey village of the district on September4, 2024 and found cracks in over 25 houses. Most of houses are empty and only 5 families are residing in the village,” said Jigyasha Bisht, District Mining Officer of Bageshwar district.
According to the district mining officer, NGT has not issued ant directions to them as of today, the officers gone to survey the village only on the basis of villagers complaints.
