Sunday, April 09, 2006
Taj Trapezium Zone Faces Biggest Eco-disaster
By Brij Khandelwal
Agra: Taj Trapezium Zone, spread over 10,000 sq kms, comprising not just Mughal monuments in Agra, but also religious sites of Braj Bhoomi, associated with Sri Krishna, stands threatened as a result of large-scale mining activity in the area all along the Rajasthan border right from Fatehpur Sikri to Nandgaon, Barsana and Kamavan.
The local administrations in the districts of Mathura, Bharatpur and Agra are helpless as the mining mafia carries on illegal dynamite blasting and quarrying of stones from hills that once formed part of the Krishna folklore.
Central Pollution Control Board officials in Agra said the alarming rise in the SPM level in the ambient air of the eco-sensitive zone was a matter that required detailed investigation as all industrial activity in the region has either come to a halt or has become pollution proof as a result of the switch over to natural gas.
“Even after the drastic steps taken by the Supreme Court to contain air pollution in the area and a series of measures taken by the Mathura Oil refinery, the air pollution level continues to remain alarmingly high,” told environmental engineer RK Gupta to Www.mediabharti.com.
The apex court has issued clear cut directives to ban mining activity in Fatehpur Sikri area, but the contractors clandestinely in the cover of the night continue to blast off hills for the famous Sikri stone. The hills of Nandgaon, Barsana and Kamvan have been similarly marauded and pillaged for stones, leaving the hills barren and the green cover parched. “It is an invitation to eco disaster and already we are facing acute shortage of water what with constant fall in the water table,” said PK Jain of the Agra Citizens Council.
The Kamvan tehsil of Bharatpur is presently the centre of all illegal mining activity in the 84-kos Braj area. Environmentalist Raghav, an ex-IITian said this was in total violation of the Rajasthan High Court order. “Mining and stone crushing are polluting activities. Large scale air, water and noise pollution created by these industries is discernible to the naked eye everywhere on the Parikrama route,” Raghav Mittal said.
A team of the CPCB which studied the problem of illegal mining and its effect on the local ecology has made several recommendations to the central government. The report calls for immediate halt to mining activity, restoration of the area through filling and plantation of trees, removal of rock blasters, revoking of consent granted to stone crushers, drawing up of an environmental management plan for the entire Braj area.
An investigation team of the Rajasthan High Court has similarly observed in its report: “The entire hill tract is being defaced and denuded of vegetation and the loss already incurred is irreparable and can not be compensated by any means and in our humble opinion such unwarranted interference with ecology deserves to be stopped.”
Each year millions of people visit the Braj area for Parikrama of the holy Goverdhan hill. But sadly the district authorities of Mathura and Bharatpur have not been alert to the large scale devastation and interference by land mafias, says journalist Vineet Narain.
Agra: Taj Trapezium Zone, spread over 10,000 sq kms, comprising not just Mughal monuments in Agra, but also religious sites of Braj Bhoomi, associated with Sri Krishna, stands threatened as a result of large-scale mining activity in the area all along the Rajasthan border right from Fatehpur Sikri to Nandgaon, Barsana and Kamavan.
The local administrations in the districts of Mathura, Bharatpur and Agra are helpless as the mining mafia carries on illegal dynamite blasting and quarrying of stones from hills that once formed part of the Krishna folklore.
Central Pollution Control Board officials in Agra said the alarming rise in the SPM level in the ambient air of the eco-sensitive zone was a matter that required detailed investigation as all industrial activity in the region has either come to a halt or has become pollution proof as a result of the switch over to natural gas.
“Even after the drastic steps taken by the Supreme Court to contain air pollution in the area and a series of measures taken by the Mathura Oil refinery, the air pollution level continues to remain alarmingly high,” told environmental engineer RK Gupta to Www.mediabharti.com.
The apex court has issued clear cut directives to ban mining activity in Fatehpur Sikri area, but the contractors clandestinely in the cover of the night continue to blast off hills for the famous Sikri stone. The hills of Nandgaon, Barsana and Kamvan have been similarly marauded and pillaged for stones, leaving the hills barren and the green cover parched. “It is an invitation to eco disaster and already we are facing acute shortage of water what with constant fall in the water table,” said PK Jain of the Agra Citizens Council.
The Kamvan tehsil of Bharatpur is presently the centre of all illegal mining activity in the 84-kos Braj area. Environmentalist Raghav, an ex-IITian said this was in total violation of the Rajasthan High Court order. “Mining and stone crushing are polluting activities. Large scale air, water and noise pollution created by these industries is discernible to the naked eye everywhere on the Parikrama route,” Raghav Mittal said.
A team of the CPCB which studied the problem of illegal mining and its effect on the local ecology has made several recommendations to the central government. The report calls for immediate halt to mining activity, restoration of the area through filling and plantation of trees, removal of rock blasters, revoking of consent granted to stone crushers, drawing up of an environmental management plan for the entire Braj area.
An investigation team of the Rajasthan High Court has similarly observed in its report: “The entire hill tract is being defaced and denuded of vegetation and the loss already incurred is irreparable and can not be compensated by any means and in our humble opinion such unwarranted interference with ecology deserves to be stopped.”
Each year millions of people visit the Braj area for Parikrama of the holy Goverdhan hill. But sadly the district authorities of Mathura and Bharatpur have not been alert to the large scale devastation and interference by land mafias, says journalist Vineet Narain.
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