Raj starts process to legalise mining in Banshi Pahadpur

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government has initiated the process to denotify a forest area in Banshi Pahadpur hills in Bharatpur to allow sandstone mining after a survey found that there were no animals or forests in the area, officials said.

Pink sandstone mined from the hills is being supplied to Ayodhya for the construction of the Ram temple.

A senior forest department official familiar with the developments said the standing committee of the State Board of Wildlife (SBWL) in a recent meeting has recommended that a forest area of Banshi Pahadpur sanctuary be denotified.

“There is no forest or animal in the area, and it is difficult to understand why it was made a sanctuary. Illegal mining in the area is not only causing revenue loss to the government but also unnecessarily tarnishing the mining department’s image,” he said.

The standing committee has recommended denotification of a part of sanctuary area to SBWL. Once the SBWL approves the proposal, it will be further recommended to the National Board of Wildlife, said the official.

Bharatpur district collector Nathmal Didel said mining, forest and revenue departments have studied the area of Banshi Pahadpur and found that there is no forest cover or animals there for the last three decades. “We are trying to denotify a part of the sanctuary area to permit mining. If the mining is legalised, it will not only generate revenue but also create employment,” he said.

A recommendation has been made to denotify 643 hectares of 2000-hectare land of Banshi Pahadpur wildlife sanctuary for mining, he said.

A retired IFS officer said on the condition anonymity that the move, if accepted, would be the second instance of denotification of a forestland. In 2017, the Rajasthan government had denotified 357.23 hectares of Ramgarh Wildlife Sanctuary falling in Bundi town and adjoining villages, paving the way for the residents of these areas to avail of benefits of development schemes.

“But then the denotification was done to facilitate housing, but today it’s for mining. What precedent are we setting?” he asked.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which has been sourcing stones from the Banshi Pahadpur hills for the construction of the Ram temple for the past five years, had approached the Bharatpur district administration over a delay in supply of stones in September-October 2020.

The district administration had then said that the stones were being illegally mined after three trucks, loaded with pink sandstones, were seized on September 27 last year in a joint operation of the police, forest and revenue departments.

An official of the district administration said, “Pink and yellow sandstones are high in demand. Illegal mining activity in the area feeds processing units in the district. The district administration takes action against illegal mining randomly.”

According to the state mines department officials, 42 legal mines of pink, red and yellow sandstones operated in the Banshi Pahadpur forest area until December 1996.