Date | Jan 31, 2016: Though the protest on ban on mining in Gaula river by NGT has begun in by the affected groups in Haldwani, the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation deny from any such ban in place.

Dinesh Pandey, the environment activist, had made the plea before NGT to quash the Forest Clearance accorded by the order dated January 24 , 2013 for collection of stone, boulders and other minor minerals from 1497 hectares area in river bed of Gaula river for the period of ten years by State of Uttrakhand ignoring the fact that most part of the area is forest and important wildlife habitat. He also appealed to quash the Stage I and Stage II forest clearances granted by ministry of environment and forest by letter dated January 10 and January 23, 2013.

The Gaula River originates from Padampuri in Nainital district of Uttarakhand and flows through foothills in Haldwani Forest Division and Terai East forest Division (TEFD). The total length of the river is around 60-70km, of which 29 km stretch of the river from Kathgodam to Lalkuan is being used for sand/boulder extraction, covering 1497 hectare.

STS Lepcha, managing director of UFDC said, "Gaula is the only river in the state which added maximum revenue to the exchequer from the mining activity. It was Rs 143 crore last financial year. The annual revenue always ranges above Rs 100 crore from this river. Ban on this river will mean big revenue loss to the state government as all the revenue is directly sent to the state government by the UFDC."

JS Suhag, general manager of UFDC for Kumon region told TOI that the tribunal has banned the mechanized mining on Ganges and its tributaries. Since only manual way of mining is conducted on Gaula so we will not stop mining on this river."

UK Uniyal, advocate general also said, that he contended before counsel that since the state government has already been adhering to the guidelines with regard to mining on rivers in the state, hence mining should not be banned on Gaula.

Rahul Chaudhary, counsel of Dinesh Pandey, activist and petitioner said, "The bench on January 29 accepted our argument that the order in Ganga Phase I case of MC Mehta of December 10 which says that any activity from center of the river, Ganga and its tributaries, to 100 meter on either side will be banned, should also cover this case as well. This means that mining with 100 meter on either side means total 200 meter will be banned. This will cover the entire mining area on Gaula river."

He said, NGT later uploaded it on its website that learned counsel appearing from the parties commonly conceded that the controversy in the present case is squarely covered by the judgment of the Ganga Phase I. He further added, It seems that the counsel from the state government side did not fully read the MC Mehta case judgement."

(Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/)