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The trouble with haphazard mining

Sunny Sebastian

Hillocks are being flattened in the Aravalis in Rajasthan in the quest for marble.

IN RAJASTHAN's Rajsamand district, hillock after hillock is being levelled in the Aravalis, which the Supreme Court had tried to protect through a special intervention in 2002.

They are being replaced by new mountains — of ungainly marble waste. And the slurry, wet marble dust, is playing havoc with farmlands along the 90-km stretch between Udaipur and Gomti Chouraha on National Highway 8. Virtual marble forests — slabs, blocks, artefacts, and of course, the all-pervasive slurry — have replaced natural vegetation along NH-8, between Rajsamand and Udaipur.

Besides, several seasonal rivers including prominent ones such as the Banas and Gomti, have disappeared since large-scale mining operations began in the area 30 to 35 years ago. The blasting, digging, carting, sawing, and dumping of the stone waste have also taken a toll of the 329-year-old Rajsamand lake, one of the oldest and largest in the Mewar region. A few mountain forts in the area, once part of the terrain of the legendary ruler of Mewar, Maharana Pratap, are at risk of caving in. The nibbling arms of the mining industry are reaching out to the privately owned Kelwa Fort that is more than 200 years old.

The water levels in the district have gone down. Amet, under intensive mining, has seen the maximum dip of 7.26 metres between 1995 and 2004. On an average, the past five years have seen a decline of 6 to 7 m in the groundwater level in the district; non-governmental organisations say it is around 40 m. This year, even with the best level of rainfall in the district in a decade, the Rajsamand lake did not see a rise of more than 600 cm of water.

The copious rain also failed to make the Gomti or the Banas flow even for a brief period. Instead, the mine pits were filled. The mine-owners are planning collectively to drain the water.

There is, of course, a sense of well-being among the nearly 10 lakh people in the district. Tales of uprooting of Adivasi farmers and devastation of farmlands are common amid the rags-to-riches stories of a couple of mine-owners and saw operators. However, for the time being the dominant voice — which has so far drowned all protests from activist groups — is of the diamond wire saws, and heavy earthmovers.

Large-scale, unregulated mining for white marble is on in the tehsils of Rajsamand, and Amet and parts of Nathdwara and Kumbalgarh in Rajsamand district. Created in April 1991 from Udaipur district, Rajsamand accounts for only 1.39 per cent (4,550.93 sq miles) of Rajasthan's total geographical area but it is the source of more that 40 per cent of the marble extracted in the State.

Though the mine-owners and the Directorate of Mining and Geology argue, on the strength of the definition they presented to the Supreme Court in November 2002, that hills up to a height of 100 m are not the Aravalis, in geological terms the marble deposits in Rajsamand belong to the Aravali system (the Aravalli Super Group under Dovda and Kankroli Group).

Undeterred by demand slump

Even the recent slump in the demand for marble, once considered the hallmark of only palaces, royal households, and temples, has not slowed down the 1,300-odd lease-holdersin the district. Rajsamand accounts for the world's largest deposits of dolomite marble stone (now passed off as real marble) with an estimated deposit of 5,270 lakh tonnes.

There are about 220 processing units equipped with gang saws here, besides some 1,650 smaller cutter units established by small entrepreneurs and marginal farmers. There are 12,000 labourers, mostly in the unorganised sector, in the area. Also, thousands of families depend on income from mining-related activity.

Apart from its deposits of marble, the mining of which goes back 275 years, Rajsamandis known for its four "dhams", including Nathdwara. The well-known "Nau Chowki" or nine steps forming the embankments of the Rajsamand lake was perhaps the first experiment with marble in Rajsamand.

In recent times, it was the Birlas who first took interest in Rajsamand marble. Since 1975, places such as Agaria, Kelwa, Morwad, Nijharna, Jhanjhar, Umti, Talai, Parvati, Arna, and Bala Chach Ka Gudha have emerged as major centres of mining. Those in the trade identify the names of villages where the marble is mined with the quality or grade of the stone.

"Till recently there used to be a social ban on the use of marble by ordinary people. In the post-Independence era, thanks to the changed attitudes of the people and the arrival of the diamond gang saws, marble became a household item," says Hari Singh Rathore, a mine owner in Kelwa.

With the depletion of deposits in the fabled mines in Makrana — the source of the stone used in the construction of the Taj Mahal — in Nagaur district, Rajsamand has become the world capital for marble.

Said A.K. Saxena, Director, Mines and Geology, Rajasthan: "Deposits are unlimited in Rajsamand. However, as far as minerals are concerned the production corresponds with market demand. The importance of the mineral can go up or come down. It has happened in the case of mica in Bhilwara district. When China found a replacement for mica the mining was abandoned altogether."

So, the miners continue to dig up the white rock while the demand lasts. The wanton destruction of nature is going on with the State Government always willing to look the other way when it comes to protection of the hills, forests, and lakes.

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