Illegal mining: Rohtas administration to blast roads

SASARAM: Strange as it may sound, the Rohtas district administration has decided to turn the roads leading to the mining area in Kaimur Hills into 20ft to 40ft wide trenches in order to check the movement of vehicles and the menace of illegal quarrying in the area.
The mining department has even floated tenders in local newspapers, inviting interested parties to “blast the roads”.
Rohtas DM Animesh Kumar Parasar confirmed the decision. “The administration has no option as thousands of people are involved in illegal mining. After exploring all options, it was decided to blast the roads leading to the mining areas,” the DM said.
He said the administration has decided to blast around 100 exit points so that no one can move in the area with heavy vehicles and indulge in illegal activities.
However, the decision is being considered as a failure of the state machinery to check illegal mining. “It is like killing a person to get rid of a contagious disease,” said an official, adding, “Since CM Nitish Kumar is very serious about the problem, officials found this the most easy way.”
Sources in the district administration said after the CM, during his two-day Nishchay Yatra on December 22 and 23 last year, expressed concern over illegal mining, the district administration, with the consent of chief secretary, prepared an action plan to check illegal stone quarrying in the Kaimur Hills. “It was already decided to establish check-posts at entry points and cut the roads leading to the hills. Now the action plan is being executed,” the source said.
Despite not renewing licences for mining in over 500 acre since 2005, stone quarrying activities could not be checked in the area.