With an explosion, fear of illegal mining returns to haunt Aravallis

Residents of Pichopa Kalan village in Haryana's Charkhi Dadri district were on Wednesday evening jolted by the sound of an explosion that reduced a significant portion of a hillock to rubble.

- Leena Dhankhar

GURUGRAM/NUH: The blast was allegedly orchestrated by a powerful mining cartel operating with tacit support from state authorities, marking yet another alarming instance of illegal mining in the region.

Activists and locals say this is only the latest episode in a troubling pattern stretching across Haryana, from Mewat (Nuh) to Bhiwani's Dadam hills and the Haryana-Rajasthan border. They accuse authorities of turning a blind eye to blatant violations, emboldened by political patronage and official inaction.

This incident follows a chillingly familiar script seen across Haryana.

Despite a Supreme Court ban on mining in the ecologically critical Aravalli range, such activities persist unabated, leaving behind a trail of environmental devastation and human tragedy.

On January 1, Subhash Singh, a resident of Pichopa Kalan, was severely injured in a rockfall caused by illegal quarrying underscoring the dangers of unchecked mining in the Aravallis.

Activists and locals argue that the authorities' inaction emboldens the mining mafia, turning hills and forests into open quarries.

"They eat away entire hillocks and commit brazen dacoity of the state's mineral resources," said Mukesh Sangwan, a local resident visibly upset by the scale of destruction. "This is an ecological disaster in the making, and no one in power seems to care."

When contacted, mining officer Rinku Chauhan suggested the hillock collapse was due to "natural loosening" of the soil. "We are taking strict measures to ensure there are no illegal activities being carried out," Chauhan claimed.

However, locals and environmentalists dismissed this explanation. They said the incident bore all the hallmarks of an orchestrated blast. They questioned why soil would "conveniently loosen" in ways consistent with other illegal mining incidents.