Bhilwara (Rajasthan): Vedanta Group's Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL), located in the Gulabpura subdivision area of Bhilwara district, has recently been in the news for violating environmental rules because of the mining activities conducted on a land of about 1,200 hectares. To compensate for this loss, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had directed HZL to pay a compensation of Rs 25 crores earlier this week.
In an exclusive conversation with ETV Bharat, the Gulabpura Sub-divisional Officer Vikas Mohan Bhati, who was also in the NGT Committee probing the matter, shed some light on the report based on which the committee had issued instructions to the HZL.
Bhati said that the issue came to light first when the villagers around the mining area started noticing the adverse effects of the mining operations on the land, soil and natural groundwater that they were using for their day to day chores. "The mining activities held at Hindustan Zinc Limited continuously violated the environmental rules. Consequently, the quality of water and soil in the area got considerably deteriorated leading to an outbreak of diseases in the village. The farmers also suffered as the lands went completely barren because of infertile soil, resulting in a massive loss of production," he said.
The issue caught official attention when one of the villagers decided to bring this to the notice of the authorities in the area. "A man named Ompuri, who lives in the periphery area of Hindustan Zinc Limited, filed a case in the NGT. Taking a serious note of the matter, the NGT formed a committee headed by Bhilwara District Collector for further investigation," informed Bhati. He further said that the District Collector appointed him as his representative thereafter.
"The team was supposed to go on the field and find out the exact reasons for the damage to the environmental resources around the mining sites. We investigated the usage of zinc as well as the possible impacts of the activity of blasting during the mining operations. Based on this, we submitted a detailed report to the NGT of how the activities there had affected the health of the villagers, caused cracks in their houses because of blasting and also reduced the fertility of the soil due to excessive chemical contents in their disposals," Bhatia said. Based on the report's findings, the NGT had issued a direction to HZL to deposit the compensation amount of Rs 25 crore to the Bhilwara District Collector.
Apart from other problems, the issue of water leakage from HZL's outlets has also emerged as a serious problem in the area, as informed by the farmers there. They had flagged the issue several times before as the leakage affects the fertility of the soil and consequently the agricultural production too. However, Bhati said that no such issue has come to the fore, nor had it been flagged during the entire investigation by the NGL Committee. "If the matter of water leakage emerges and the NGT directs us or asks for re-investigation, we would definitely re-investigate it," he reassured.
The farmers have also accused the district authorities of not supporting them in their protest against the excessive usage and the consequent exposure to zinc. Addressing this concern, the officer said that the authorities genuinely lend an ear to whatever complaints the farmers from the subdivision bring forth, and also tried their best to investigate and devise plausible solutions against those problems.
"The complaints come every day and we pay heed to them. This was the reason that a committee with top-level experts from across India was formed. The committee, which I was also a part of, went on the ground and scrutinized each and every aspect closely to include it in the investigation report. Anybody who looks at the report will be convinced that it flags all issues that needed to be included," he said.
Also read: NGT slaps penalty of Rs 25 cr on Hindustan Zinc for polluting environment in Rajasthan
