LAHAN, Nov 30: Contsruction materials for the 1,650 km Delhi-Guwahati Highway in India are being taken from Morang, Sunsari, Saptari, Udayapur, Dhanusha, Siraha and Sindhuli districts in the Tarai.
Thousands of tons of sand, gravel, pebbles and stones are transported to India daily by an Indian crusher company--BSC C&C JV Nepal Pvt Ltd--established four years ago at Kadmaha in Madhupatti VDC-9.
The crusher plant, established with joint investment by B Sinhaiya of Hyderabad and Amritpal Singh Chadda of New Delhi, has leased 12 bigaha of land from Indrakanta Chaudhari of Kadmaha for 10 years. It is illegally collecting construction materials from the Chure region and sending them to India after processing it.
Locals say the company has also set up an ´illegal´ plant in the middle of the jungle in Udayapur for collecting such materials. Gaiman India and Mahavir Crusher Industry are also operating, at Fattepur in Saptari
More than 1,000 tipper trucks from these plants ferry thousands of tons of materials to India round the clock from Kanauli of Saptari and Bhantabari, Sunsari.
The six-wheel tippers have permits from Sagarmatha Transport Management Office for 10 tons and the 10-wheelers for 17 tons. But sources claim that these vehicles carry double the permitted loads. The hordes of over-loaded tippers have ravaged the 50 km Belsot-Kadmaha section of the East-West Highway and the 40 km Kadmaha-Bhantabari section as well as the 37 km Bhardaha-Kanauli road.
Officer at the District Forest Office, Udayapur Arun Gupta said these companies are now destroying the hills with the plant operating in the middle of the jungle after finishing with the Kamala, Belsot, Khahare and other rivers. District Forest Officer of Udayapur Shantamuni Tamrakar, on the other hand, said he has no knowledge of such a modern plant in the middle of the forest though extraction of stones and gravels from the government-owned jungle was leased out for this year for Rs 900,000. “We have to start a joint initiative of the forest offices of Siraha, Udayapur, Sindhuli and Saptari districts,” Tamrakar said.
Udayapur Chief District Officer (CDO) Madhusudan Burlakoti also expressed ignorance of the crusher plant in the jungle. “Now that I known, I will ask the forest officials to remove the plant,” Burlakoti said.
But sources claim that big money has changed hands. President of the Koshi Victims Society Dev Narayan Yadav claims that the Nepal chief of the BSC plant H.P. Singh is carrying out a campaign "to finish off the resources of the area in association with forest officials and CDOs". He alleged that the company is exploiting the country after handing out fat sums to a few local leaders and enticing the locals with a promise to construct roads. Sources at the company claim that no one can stop the business.
The illegal plant in the jungle at the bottom of Chure range cannot be accessed by media or stakeholders. A few paid goons observe activities around the area and the remote plant can only be reached on foot or taking a lift in those very tippers.
Siraha District Development Committee informed that Saptari, Siraha and Udayapur districts are generating around Rs 90 million in revenue from the crushing industry but the damage being done is massive. Local environmentalist Dinesh Yadav said this massive extraction is threatening the whole Chure region. “As the Chure region is a fragile ecosystem, this can have a huge impact and can turn the tarai into a desert,” Yadav said.
Central member of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and Constituent Assembly Member Jagat Yadav said India was constructing the highway with resources "plundered in Nepal" and was also damaging roads in Nepal. He said 16 VDCs in Saptari, 21 in Udayapur, 13 in Siraha, nine in Sindhuli and seven in Dhanusha were under direct threat of flood and landslides due to the crusher plants.
“We don´t know anything. They destroyed everything near my cattle shed saying they would construct a road. The work continues round the clock. Dust coming out of the plant has made it difficult for us to stay,” said Harka Maya Kafle from a small village in Triveni-6 near the crusher plant in the jungle.
“The plant has even destroyed my bio-gas plant and kitchen garden. We can do nothing. They have all the bigwigs on their side. The neighboring village was swept away by flood this year. We fear it will be our village next year,” said 60-year-old Tirtha Adhikari.
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This is very shameful message, we and our government paying no attention regarding this. How we say and proud of nature and naturally beautiful country through out the world. If the indian side continuing such type of activities, why the state not pay attention? why not civilian take action? why not the political parties make aware to the people? First of all directly affected people take strong action and others will unitedly participate and support them to throw.................
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