Uttarakhand HC stops mining operations in Bageshwar, reprimands officials

Nainital: The Uttarakhand High Court has suspended all mining activities in the state's Bageshwar district with immediate effect following reports on damage to dwellings due to sandstone mining and reprimanded the state officials for turning a blind eye to the problem.

The January 6 direction of a bench comprising Chief Justice Guhanathan Narendar and Justice Manoj Tiwari came after high court-appointed court commissioners Mayank Joshi and Shaurin Dhulia submitted a report on the issue.

The report underlined the emergence of cracks on the walls of houses across villages in Banda area in the district.

The high court summoned and sought the version of the director of geology and mining department apart from the secretary, industrial development department, and the district magistrate on January 9.

The high court said the report's findings were not only alarming but also shocking.

"The report and the photographs clearly demonstrate the lawless manner in which mining is being done in the area," said the court.

The court said the local administration was turning a "blind eye to the transgression".

The report, it said, prima facie demonstrated further mining operations, which had damaged houses, was likely to trigger landslides and a definite loss of lives.

The court said trained officers permitting mining operations at the base of the villages' hillock, which had habitations on the top, was an irony.

The high court was hearing a suo moto case over news reports on cracks developing in houses due to steatite or soapstone mining activities.

It was reported several villages of Kanda Tehsil of Bageshwar had developed cracks.

Previously, a bench of acting Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice Pankaj Purohit had appointed the court commissioners to assist the court in understanding the problems of the villagers and directed them to submit a report.

The court will hear the matter on January 9.