Illegal mining clearing green cover in state

JAIPUR: The humongous funds of the Union ministry of environment & forests will not be able to increase green cover in Rajasthan and combat climate change, till such time that the Rajasthan government tackles illegal mining with a whip. While on one hand the state government is receiving funds for greening and afforestation through various centrally sponsored schemes like NABARD, CAMPA, Green India Mission, Intensification of Forest Management Scheme (IFMS), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), externally aided projects and grants made under the 13th Finance Commission, illegal mining is denuding the green cover all over the state that already has 2,29,66,167 ha area under land degradation.
According to union ministry of environment & forests, Rajasthan is the most affected state as far as desertification & land degradation is concerned besides Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat and Maharashtra. At one end the ministry is formulating a National Action Programme to Combat Desertification (NNAP-CD) which aims at striving towards land degradation neutrality by 2030, on the flip side there is no check on rampant illegal mining in the state leading to land degradation.
Take the case of Karauli. The area under the forest spread over 10,88,72.748 ha is adversely affected by rampant illegal mining which is denuding the forests. The felling and degradation that no afforestation can ever keep pace with, is further aggravated with the government directions to the forest officers to take care of plantation under the Mukhya Mantri Jal Swawlamban Abhiyan outside the forest. The mining mafia is making the most of the officers' absence and is allegedly backed by political patronage. Every year an illegal mining action plan is submitted to the government that just remains a file in the heap.
According to sources, "At the moment there are 114 mining licenses with environmental clearance but none of them have a clearly demarcated and fenced area by the mining department thereby leading miners to mine an area far more than is legitimate. Add to that with lack on manpower and resources illegal miners have dug excavation pits as far as 10 to 15 feet deep totally exploiting and degrading the area's topography and natural surface drainage. "
Besides, forest officers are ill-equipped to combat the mining mafia that uses the latest technology and machines. For the last several months 10-12 such L&T have been confiscated each costing about Rs 80 lakh, but newer ones have taken their place.
But before Karauli goes the Tijara way, the government would have to implement an illegal mining action plan, consonant with the objectives of the union ministry of environment & forests.