Behind land record files, 12 mines thrive in Sariska heart

The Indian Express, 1 November, 2014

The law prohibits mining activity in the Sariska tiger reserve but disagreement among departments over land revenue records have allowed 12 mines to continue in the core area of the reserve.

Mining and forest department records accessed by The Indian Express show that 12 marble mines are located in Khasra 166, near Palpur village, which was notified as part of the tiger reserve in 1975. It falls within the 881-sq km core critical area (CTH) declared in 2007.
A ground check confirmed that six of the 12 marble mines in Tilwad forest block under Tehla range of Sariska are currently operational while the rest await renewal of licences.

When The Indian Express checked the sites, blasting work was on and trucks were busy carrying away loads. Dumping of debris from the quarries have created artificial hillocks on forest land.

Nine mines have been operational since the 1980s, barring the 1992-1996 period when a Supreme Court order shut all mines in and around Sariska. Another three mines were permitted during 2001-05. These are “legal” mines because successive Sariska managements have ruled that Khasra 166 does not fall within the tiger reserve.

When The Indian Express checked with R S Shekhawat, Field Director of Sariska, he said: “How can there be mining inside the tiger reserve? I have to check the specifics of this area (Khasra 166). Mines could not have continued anywhere if the area was inside the Sariska core.”

Shekhawat’s argument has a history. In 2005, following a petition filed by the Alwar-based Bandhua Mukti Morcha, the then Field Director of Sariska wrote to the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC) that Khasra 166,  where the mines were operational, was not the same Khasra 166 notified as part of the reserve.

Khasra numbers often change in land settlements over a period. And the Sariska management has maintained that the mines occupy Khasra 166 as per the 1957 land records while Khasra 166, notified as part of the tiger reserve according to the 1922 land records, is a different area.

But records submitted in 1992 by the Field Director of Sariska to a Supreme Court-appointed committee, tasked with  demarcation of the tiger reserve boundary, show that Khasras 1, 7, 165 and 166 of Palpur village were notified as tiger reserve as per the 1957 (Samvat 2014) land records.

Also, land records at the Rajgarh tehsil office state that Khasras 1 and 166 were identified as per the 1957, and not 1922, land records for transfer to the forest department. As per tehsil records, Khasra 166 was split and renumbered 285, 286, 290-293 and 293/417 in 1989.
The latest records with the Rajasthan mining department bear this out. The list for mines in Palpur shows that 12 mines occupy a total of 21.3 hectares in new Khasras 285, 286, 290-293 and 293/417 of 1989 – or Khasra 166 of 1957 – inside the tiger reserve.

The mining department also marked the quarries on the same map of Sariska submitted to the Supreme Court by the tiger reserve management in 1992. All 12 mines sit, either fully or in parts, on Khasra 166 on that map – the same area that the Sariska management does not acknowledge as part of the core.

Despite reminders since 2012 when Sariska’s buffer zone was notified, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is still to receive a map, demarcating the reserve boundaries on ground, from the Sariska authorities. As a result, the Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP) of the reserve is still to be finalised.

When his comments were sought, O P Meena, Additional Chief Secretary (Forests), Rajasthan, directed the queries to the mining department. “I think the boundary has been marked in Sariska. As far as mines are concerned, only the mining department can provide details,” he said.

But D S Maru, Director of Mines, said the reserve boundary had never been conclusively demarcated on the ground. “Only the revenue department can settle this issue by finalising the limits of the boundary. Mining is not allowed if an area falls within the tiger reserve,” he said.

Rajkumar Rinwa, named state minister for forest and mines earlier this week, told The Indian Express he would examine the locations of the mines in and around Sariska. “I am meeting the Chief Minister and will discuss the matter,” he said.