Rajasthan Govt Agrees to Close Down Mining Sites After Sadhu Sets Himself on Fire

The year-and-a-half agitation by seers over illegal stone mining in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur was called off on Thursday after the state government assured to close down the mines in Adi Badrinath and Kankhachal Hills areas. The development came a day after a seer, Vijay Das, set himself afire over the issue. Meanwhile, the sadhu was on Thursday shifted to a hospital in Delhi in a critical condition. ”Seer Vijay Das had sustained nearly 80 per cent burn injuries and his condition is critical. He is being shifted to a Delhi hospital,” Jaipur SMS government hospital sources said.

Another seer had climbed atop a mobile tower demanding a ban on the mining activities. Adhering to the demands of the protesting sadhus, the Congress-led state government on Thursday announced that it will issue a notification within 15 days to declare the area where the mines are operated as a forest area in order to shift the mines elsewhere.

Bharatpur district collector Alok Ranjan said 34 mines are being operated in Adi Badrinath area and 11 in Kankhachal Hills area. The mines were allotted from 2000 to 2018. He said around 2,500 people are engaged in these mines and they will now get employment in another area.

”With this, the agitation of seers going on in Pasopa area for one-and-a-half year has ended. A notification to declare the area as forest area will be issued in 15 days,” Ranjan noted. A detailed action plan will be prepared to develop the region for tourism, he added. In a related development, BJP state president Satish Poonia on Thursday constituted a three-member ”fact-finding committee” that will visit Bharatpur, and submit its report to the leader.

Alwar MP Baba Balaknath, former minister Gajendra Singh and former MLA Rajkumari Jatav are the members of the team, according to a party spokesperson. The BJP members also held a protest outside Bharatpur district collectorate against the state government over the stone mining issue. ”The Congress government in Rajasthan is anti-Hindu. The seers had been holding the agitation for 550 days against mining, but they were unheard. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot should clarify his stand on the issue,” a local BJP leader told reporters in Bharatpur.

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