Imphal: Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh on Tuesday informed the House that the cabinet has resolved to ban various means of mining of minerals, including sand in riverbeds with the help of machines in the state.
However, manual mining will be streamlined considering the livelihood of the manual labourers, said the chief minister while replying to the calling attention put up by MLA Surjakumar Okram in regards to the rampant illegal mining leading to deterioration of Thoubal river.
Chief minister Biren informed the House that the state government has taken up steps from time to time by arresting the persons involved in illegal mining and quarrying, especially at Thoubal river.
CM Biren, the Leader of the House, further stated that we, the human beings, are selfish and some of the people have no civic sense.
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“99 per cent of the people are not aware of setting up toilets properly. They built toilets near the running river irrespective of whether they are contaminating the water which are consumed by others,” said the chief minister.
CM Biren also informed the House that recently the government has done a mass drive of eviction of toilets and cleaning the river banks stretching from Kangpokpi to Imphal river.
He also said that Singda Dam is drying up because of the cutting down of trees on the hills around Singda, leading to scarcity of drinking water.
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“For the survival strategy, people are illegally mining sand and others, neglecting the consequences that affects the future generation,” he said, adding, any activities that are disastrous to the environment will be seriously dealt with as per the law.
He also informed the House that locations are being identified by Industry Department and Forest Department. Proposals are sent to the Centre for consent to preserve the areas, he added.
Minister of Textiles, Commerce and Industries Nemcha Kipgen informed the House that no stone crusher is permitted/licensed to function in paddy land. The permit/license for stone crushers is issued under ‘The Manipur Factories Rules, 2021’, she added.
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