Uttarakhand High Court has lifted the ban on mining along the River Ganga. Mining work in the river is also necessary as the silt continues to flow in the river continuously.
If this silt continues to accumulate, the water level increases in the river, which increases the area of spread of the river. Therefore, mining operations in the river remove extra silt in the river, so that the flow of the river becomes smooth.
To review mining operations in the banks of the river, the Central Government had constituted Chitale Committee. The Chitale Committee submitted its review report to the Central Government (we can see the report of the Chitale Committee), which states that removal of silt can improve the flow of the river. According to the Committee, while removing sediment, the following basic principles should be taken into account:
- Watershed (management of catchment area) is essential to reduce silt.
- Free flow of the river should be ensured without any obstruction so that silt can be flushed to the sea. Instead of “removing sediment” we should plan for “Give way to silt” strategy.
But the Chitale Committee has ignored the environmental losses due to mining operations, such as
- Mining destroys the fish eggs and habitat of turtles and other living organisms. (See here for impacts of mining on aquatic animals page1, point 1.2).
- Due to erosion of the banks of the river, fine particles in the river come in abundance and damage the aquatic organisms.
- Due to mining, the fertile capacity of soil used for irrigation is reduced. (Report is available here page1, para 4)
Therefore, mining operations should be done in such a way that there should be no loss to the aquatic life and the needs of the people of sand and soil can also be fulfilled. Mining can be done as follows:
- The river should be mined in a distance of 5 kilometers and the other 10 kilometers area should be left for the fauna. After 3 years, the area previously mined should be left for the aquatic animals and mining should be done in new 5 kilometers area.
- There are many such places in the river Ganga, where large bridges and big dams are being constructed, which is also a big reason for siltation in large quantity. The problem of silt deposition can be reduced by using more depth in the construction of these bridges and dams. (we can learn technical aspects here in detail page 2, point 1-15)
If the mining will be done in a planned manner, there will be no damage to the river Ganga and human needs can also be met.
