According to sources, the Rajasthan government has granted environmental permission to 12 mines in the Bansi Paharpur area of Bharatpur district for the delivery of pink sandstone to Ayodhya for the construction of the Ram temple. They stated that the light for another batch of 12 mines is likely by mid-July.
The state mines department e-auctioned 41 mining plots in the Bansi Paharpur area last November-December for the pink sandstones preferred for the construction of the Ayodhya temple.
“By the end of May, twelve mining lease holders will be able to begin mining.” “The remaining are likely to obtain green clearance by the end of this month or the first two weeks of July,” said Subodh Agrawal, additional chief secretary (mines).
The issuing of the green clearance means that stones from these mines are now legally available for use in other places, and mining activities will generate direct and indirect employment, according to Agrawal.
Blocks A and B of Bansi Paharpur, Sukhasila, and Kot were excluded from the Bandh Baretha Wildlife Sanctuary for mining activities in March of last year. Three months later, the Union Ministry of Forest, Environment, and Climate Change sanctioned the diversion of forest land in Bansi Paharpur for sandstone mining.
Following that, the state mines department started preparing mining blocks in Bansi Paharpur for auction.
According to Agrawal, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has urged for efforts to combat illegal mining in the Bansi Paharpur area.
According to an office holder of the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which is in charge of the high-profile project, while 4.70 lakh cubic feet of pink stone are required for temple building, just 70,000 cubic feet have arrived in Ayodhya so far.
However, with the Rajasthan government’s environmental permissions, a constant supply of pink stone is expected to speed up the temple’s construction, the officer bearer added on condition of anonymity.
While the first batch of pink sandstone from Bandi Paharpur arrived in Ayodhya on April 5, the majority of it was removed illegally. The sandstone will be utilised for the walls of the Ram Temple after the plinth construction is completed by the end of June, according to Anil Mishra, one of the Trust’s trustees, in April. Leaseholders of mines in these locations say they are being solicited for sandstone by those involved in the Ram temple development. “I have three mines in the vicinity and was recently contacted by those involved in the Ayodhya temple development.” However, things remain on hold until mining operations commence following the signing of an agreement with the government and approval from the environmental control department,” Deepraj Singh, According to a mining owner in Bansi Paharpur.
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