Sirohi (Faridabad): Every time you see a swanky new building coming up in Delhi, think of the ravaged Aravalis, savagely slashed along the red quartize face, innards gouged out. Think of the labourers working in dust-laden pits and stone crushers for 12 hours, if not longer, for Rs 100 a day - work that, more often than not, leaves them with tuberculosis or silicosis a few years down the line.
Think of Khori Jamalpur and Sirohi - the two legal stone quarries with a cumulative area of about 267 hectares, adjacent to the Pali-Sohna state highway where it cuts across backward Mewat, bringing to its people some temporary easy cash, but devastating their environment for successive generations. If you saw this bombed out tract of hills, just 36 km from Delhi, you would admit that the supply of stone chips for all constructions in the NCR comes at a high price. Perhaps, unacceptably high.
The mines were started here with the Supreme Court's nod and also its guidelines for mining. When the apex court decided on Monday that the entire Aravali range in Gurgaon district would first be mapped by satellite imagery before new areas are opened up for mining, it overlooked this part of the Faridabad district.
If it were to map this area too, and back that up with a ground-level survey, it would find that its own guidelines have been thrown to the winds.
The world's oldest mountain range, standing guard against the desertification of the Indo-Gangetic plains, has been virtually decimated in these parts. Mining here doesn't have environment clearance. While the Central Pollution Control Board said in reply to a RTI application that the mines here don't have an NOC from them, the Haryana Pollution Control Board claimed to TOI that since "minor minerals" (quartzite) were being mined, no NOC is required.
The violations appear to be many. We saw child labour in the mines, quarry and crusher workers working without mandatory safety equipment like masks, ear plugs and body suits. We were told about scant medical facilities, common respiratory diseases. We also saw boulder-laden trucks - 3,200 of them carry away 1,000 tonnes of stones every day, according to the manager of the Khori Jamalpur mines - using the Ballabhgarh-Pali-Sohna state highway, reducing it to a cratered mess, when they are supposed to take another road, specially built for the trucks by cutting through the Aravalis.
Source: The Times of India
