Date | Nov 02, 2017:

A case in high court against electronic weigh bridge tenders is delaying resumption of mining this year in Haldwani’s Gola river, where quarrying activity every year generates ₹500 crore revenue for the state.

Officials are clue less when the mining -- considered important activity for health of a river -- will resume this year. Quarrying helps in removing stones and debris thereby reducing chances of flooding of the river during rainy season, experts say.

It had been decided that quarrying would begin on Gola river from October 1 this year, said Rajpal Legha, the deputy director of mining.

However, there was delays due to the fact that some quarrying operators approached the Uttarakhand high court over tenders for electronic weigh bridges, he said.

The state government had assigned the work of installing the weigh bridges to a firm and some operators have objected to the move and filed a case in the high court. The court will hear the case on November 15.

Legha said the high court, in its earlier hearings, allowed the forest department to conduct quarrying on a temporary level if it proper weigh bridges are employed for the purpose.

MPS Rawat, regional manager of the forest development corporation, said: “We are waiting for the government order on quarrying after which the needful would be done.”

The electronic weigh bridges were very efficient and can weigh a truck in 30 second, Rawat said, adding 33 such bridges were installed on 11 gates.

(Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/)