Aizawl: Mizoram Geology and Mining Minister S Hiato has alleged the illegal stone quarry near Keifang village was reason behind the massive rockslide at the Aizawl-Champhai road in eastern Mizoram that killed 18 people on July 21.

A bus was travelling from Champhai town to Aizawl. It had almost reached the end of this quarry around 0100 hour when the boulders came crashing down, hitting the rear of the vehicle and leading to the death of 18 people.

JAIPUR: Just five days after a labourer was killed and several others had a narrow escape in Harmara area, villagers alleged that unsafe mining practices have resumed in over 50 licensed stone mine

It seems the state government and the police have met a dead end when it comes to curbing illegal mining. At one level, labourers are getting killed due to poor safety standards or mine collapses. At another level, when the police are asked to pull up socks against the mafia, they themselves are attacked.

On Monday, in Asojai village on the outskirts of Jaipur, one mine worker was killed and three others injured when a portion of a mine collapsed. On the same day, a braveheart policeman was mowed down by mining mafia in Dholpur when he attempted to stop trucks carrying stones.

The Assam Forest Department’s impunity seems to have no limits. legal edicts are inconsequential to its working.

JAIPUR: A division bench of Rajasthan high court has observed that the mining mafia is at its peak in the state and there is no effort to check them. The court made this remark while hearing a PIL filed by a Bharatpur-based advocate.

The petitioner, Battu Singh, has moved the court alleging that four politically powerful persons have been doing illegal mining in forest area in Bayan tehsil of Bharatpur. The case is being heard by Chief Justice Arun Kumar Mishra and Justice N K Jain (senior).

Illegal stone quarrying near Almatti can have disastrous consequences, fear greens. Stone quarrying goes on unhindered on the banks of River Krishna, even as locals allege that officials of Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited (KBJNL) are turning a blind eye to the illegality.

The national river policy stipulates that stone quarrying should not be conducted on the banks of any river. It is feared that the quarrying may cause damage to the nearby bridges on the Parvati Katta road (a road bridge and the railway bridge) and the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. The dawn to dusk stone quarrying in and around the Krishna river basin has invited the wrath of environmentalists.

ALWAR: Illegal mining on Aravali hills has not only raised environmental concerns, but also resulted in huge loss of human lives in the state. As per the records made public in the state assembly recently, 40 people have lost their lives due to illegal mining in Mewat's Alwar region over a three years' period.

The police's apathetic attitude towards these deaths has also added to the sorrow of victims' family members. Several cases have come to the fore in which police did not register cases against illegal miners despite repeated requests by the victims' family members. This makes it hard to prove whether these people, mostly labourers, died in mining work.

JAIPUR/ALWAR: At least six labourers died while a few others were feared trapped under debris in two mining mishaps in Alwar and Rajsamand districts on Thursday.

Blocked wildlife corridors across the Kosi river. Now a rash of private properties inside the tiger reserve itself.

The famed Kaziranga National Park in Assam finds itself in an interesting quandary, where human livelihood clashes with animal habitat.

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