NEW DELHI: The mining and geology department of Haryana has started preparing a master plan for sustainable mining of minor minerals (building material) for the next 30 years. The plan would include restoration and reclamation of areas mined in the past, especially in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Mewat.
The Supreme Court has already suspended all mining in these three districts until the state prepares and implements rehabilitation of mined areas.
The department recently floated a tender through Haryana Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) to appoint consultants to prepare the plan for the entire state. Though this is seen as a step taken by the state only after SC suspended mining in May in Aravalis, industry secretary Y S Mallik said, "While the court order is only for three districts, we are working towards preparing a plan for the entire state for sustainable mining.''
According to provisions of the bid document, the department intends to formulate an overall strategy for mining of minerals in the state which will address the issue of master planning of mining zones and formulation of rules to ensure mining is undertaken in a sustainable manner. Under this initiative, the department would also prepare three sets of model environment management plan (EMP) for stone mining in Aravalis/ hill blocks, boulder and gravel mining in Shivalik river beds, sand mining along Yamuna beds and stone mining in Tosham.
However, department officials admitted that finding a solution for restoring and rehabilitating the already mined areas in Faridabad and Gurgaon districts are next to impossible.
The SC's earlier judgment in 1994 had allowed limited mining on the basis of the sustainable development principle. But this was blatantly violated by the miners.
