[ Samshum Changmi ]
MIAO, 28 May: In response to escalating erosion threats at the ITI Balinong, the additional deputy commissioner of Miao, R.D Thungon, has issued an executive order prohibiting all mining activities in and around the Burhi Dehing River at Namphuk and Balinong until further notice.
The executive order, issued on 26 May, states: “Severe soil erosion caused due to mining activities has resulted in a threat to the Balinong ITI boys hostel, staff quarters, and village land, thereby endangering the safety of the local community and ecological stability.”
The directive, issued under Section 21 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, follows a news report
published in this daily on 30 April with headline “ITI Balinong facing existential threat due to severe riverbank erosion, which revealed that over 10,000 square meters of the ITI campus had been lost to riverbank erosion over the past two years.
The report further exposed rampant, illegal, and unscientific sand and boulder mining, stretching from Assam’s Jagun Ghat to Mpen near Miao, as a major contributor to the altered course of the river and the aggressive erosion patterns.
“Since 2017, at least eight crusher mills with a combined annual capacity of over 380,000 cubic meters have reportedly been operating along the Burhi Dehing, extracting minerals from outside designated notified quarry zones,” the report revealed.
The AMDO and SDO Kharsang have been directed to submit fortnightly action-taken reports to ensure strict enforcement of the order.
