Times of India: Rajkot: Thursday,
March 16, 2017.
Illegal
miners seem to have got a complete free hand in digging near the Asiatic lions'
last abode Gir Wildlife Sanctuary. If data revealed under the RTI Act is any
indication, the Supreme Court order banning mining, both legal and illegal in a
10km periphery around the sanctuary pending clearance of final eco-sensitive
zone (ESZ) proposal, has been flagrantly violated.
Between April
2016 and February 2017, the geology and mining department had lodged 22 FIRs
for illegal mining in the close vicinity of the sanctuary. "The estimated
value of illegal mining in these 22 cases was pegged at Rs 11.29 crore. But
this is just the tip of an iceberg as illegal mining is rampant around Gir
Sanctuary and adversely affecting forest and wildlife,'' said Balu Socha, an
environmental activist based in Kodinar, who had sought the information.
Earlier, the
Centre had notified an area up to 17.9km from the boundary of the Mitiyala
Wildlife Sanctuary, 16.3km from the boundary of the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and
up to 14.98km from the Paniya Wildlife Sanctuary. Now, the ESZ covers only 207
sq km of 114 villages in nine talukas covering three districts as against the
original 3,328.8139 sq km extending to around 291 villages. Environmental
activists alleged that government has given in to illegal miners who have high
business stakes around the Gir Sanctuary.
Data also
revealed that most illegal mining cases detected were near Ghantvad, Jamwala,
Amodra, Surva, Ankolvadi, Arithiya and Bhiyal, which are all prime habitats of
lions and other wildlife and fall under the ESZ. A senior forest department
officer told TOI, "We have been regularly writing to the district administration
in Gir-Somnath about illegal mining with data acquired using the GPS. Few
months ago, we provided all details of such activities in Harmadiya, Ghantvad
and Ebhalvad village around the Gir Sanctuary. We have no power to stop them
but no such action was taken by the geology and mining department."