Uttarakhand govt does U-turn on mining ban within 1km radius of bridges

DEHRADUN: A few days back, the Uttarakhand government had directed all 13 district magistrates to ensure that no mining was allowed within a one-km radius of bridges.


Now, the order was reversed and DMs were directed to follow the mining policy of 2016, which permitted mining at a distance of 100m from pillars of a bridge.

On September 15, PWD principal secretary RK Sudhanshu wrote a letter to the DMs telling them to ensure that no mining was allowed in the one-km radius of the bridges.

The move was made with a view to safeguard the bridges made with worth of crores and mining in nearby areas was weakening the pillars. In a surprise move, the order was reversed on Monday. When contacted, the IAS officer said, “The entire motive is actually to protect the bridges.”

Notably, a number of bridges across Uttarakhand have been damaged in the monsoon season this year.