Heavy machines have been deployed on the banks of Dhasan river

BHOPAL: After Ken , illegal sand mining is posing threat to another river in drought-prone Bundelkhand . Excessive mining is taking place in Dhasan river in Nowgaon tehsil where heavy machines are playing havoc with its ghats and disrupting its flow.

No wonder, with water crisis looming large, the local villagers are up-in-arms against the sand mining in Dhasan. After the villagers saw heavy machines damaging the ghats and mounds of sand at many places that block the river flow, the irate villagers even pelted stones in protest. The region is already facing water crisis which is likely to deepen further.

People in Alipura village were stunned on March 26 when they found heavy machines being deployed to dig out the sand. “Heavy machines were operating near the ghats and damaging them. The jugaad pandoobis were sucking the sand after which we pelted stones at the people operating them”, said a villager.

“We will not allow the mining till the water level in the river goes further down. The damage done to ghats would spell doom for us and cause irreparable damage to the water body”, he said.

Balram Singh Rathor, station house officer of Alipura police station, told the local media, “We are probing the stone pelting incident”. The tehsildar of Nowgaon BP Singh said, “I have no information about the licences issued for sand mining in the region.”

Though the district administration is tight-lipped over the issue, sources said that a four hectare mine, which was earlier in the possession of Alipura panchayat, has been leased out to four miners for four years. “But the problem starts when they start digging out a larger area and damage the river. They should not be allowed to damage the ghats and block the river flow”, sources said.

Dhasan, a 365km-long tributary of Betwa river , originates from Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh.

Ken, which is another important river of Bundelkhand, is already facing serious threat from the mining mafia. The river flow has been blocked by building illegal bridges over the shallow patches of the river in Panna and Chattarpur districts.

