UTTAR PRADESH (CU)_In June 2016, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) of India mandated environment clearance for mines, and as a result, several legal mines across the country had to close down, although illegal mining continued. This was particularly problematic in the construction of the Ram Temple, in the city of Ayodhya, since the mandate meant that Bansi Paharpur, which has been a part of the Bandh Baretha wildlife sanctuary, was a no mining area. As a result, the supply of the pink Bansi Paharpur sandstone for the construction of the Temple was severely obstructed.
Therefore, the central government has now given an in-principle approval to free up forest land of nearly 1000 acres for mining in the vicinity, and an online auction is expected to be held by the Rajasthan government for mining blocks on this land.
“In the 398 hectares that are to be diverted, we expect to diverted, we expect to develop about 70 mining blocks and auction those,” Additional chief secretary mines and petroleum Dr Subodh Agrawal said. He added that the delimitation work the area will begin soon in order to prepare the blocks for the e-auction which is expected to generate a revenue of about ₹5 billion for the state government.
This means that the state government is required to carry out compensatory afforestation across an area which is equal to the size of forest land that would be cleared, the MoEF said in a letter. According to Agrawal, the recent nod from the Ministry came on Friday (11 June). He noted that the move would not only smoothen supply of sandstone for the Temple, but will also bringing an end to illegal mining which was widespread in the area. Furthermore, create employment opportunities for thousands of locals involved in the mining industry who were severely affected by the 2016 mandate.
