NAINITAL | March 14, 2015: A day after Haridwar district magistrate (DM) banned illegal sand mining on the banks of the Ganga, its effect could be felt in other districts too. District administrations of Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar quickly moved to check the spurt in illegal sand mining in their areas.

Nainital DM Deepak Rawat instructed officials to keep a tight vigil on violations of mining guidelines in Gaula riverbed, especially use of vehicles without registration in quarrying.

"We have received complaints regarding use of overloaded vehicles, and that too, without registration at times in quarrying. Instructions have been issued to keep constant vigil on the mining activities in the district's river and take action against those who are violating guidelines," said Rawat.

"Many violations were also reported during the inspection of the mining areas in Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar. The guidelines state that the mining should not be done outside the demarcated area. Quarrying of the mineral should not be done below 1.5 mt depth in the riverbed and no mining should be done near any bridge on the river, at least not within 1km radius," said Rajpal Legha, deputy director, mining department.

"After mining is banned in Haridwar, there is a strong possibility of rise in illegal activities in the riverbeds of Gaula, Sharda, Kosi, Dabka and Nandhaur which run through Nainital and UDS Nagar," added the deputy director.

DM Rawat told TOI that the a joint team has been formed, including officials from mining department, district administration, revenue department, police, forest department and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam, to keep a watch on the areas where government has issued permits for mining.

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