JAIPUR: Out of the 41 lease holders for mining in Bansi Paharpur, 37 have been given environment clearance. Sources in the department said rest four have not applied for green approval.
With clearance by the state Environment Impact Assessment Committee, legal mining in the area will start after a gap of 26 years. It was banned by the high court in 1996.
The pink and red sandstones of Bansi Paharur are widely used in the construction of temples and the monuments. The stones are also required for the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya.
While the mining was carried out illegally during the ban period, last year both the Centre and the state have decided to separate the Bansi Paharpur area from the Bandh Baretha wildlife sanctuary and accordingly the forest land was converted into revenue land, facilitating legal mining. ACS (mines and petroleum) Subodh Agarwal said, “This month, mining of the pink and red stones has already started in 3 leases. The rest 34 leases will start mining in July. With this legal mining, the state will not only get royalty revenue but the mining will be carried out in safe and responsible manner.”
Since the Centre did not want to source the stones from through illegal ways, it had approached the state government to send a proposal from separating the Bansi Paharpur area from the wildlife sanctuary and convert the land. After that exercise, the state government had created 41 blocks which were auctioned online and the leases were awarded.
Agarwal said that besides royalty revenue, the mining activities will create large number of jobs and also end law order situation which was prevalent when the mining was carried out illegally.
The stones are in demand for construction of temples and monuments and are not available in large quantities anywhere in the country.
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