Illegal mining casts shadow on Narmada politics in poll season

Narmadapuram: Five kilometres away from the office of the Naramadapuram superintendent of police, 52-year-old Dhanraj Raikwar works furiously at the Kharra Ghat, filling sand from the banks of the Narmada into a rickety trolley. Raikwar and the men around him do this every day, but the method of operation varies according the position of the sun. When it is high in the sky, the banks are littered with 20 trollies across the sand banks. At night, the JCBs emerge. The mining is largely illegal and there is an elaborate system of checks -- spotters, and men on call to deal with prying eyes. Raikwar has been doing this for 31 years. “If the governments wants, it should stop it, and give me other work. Till then, what else can I do?”

Eight kilometres away, at the Karbala Ghat, the sight is similar: six trollies standing near the banks of the river; men shovelling sand from the banks that have barely any left. Rakesh Kevat, a local fisherman watches the mining forlornly from a safe distance. “My source of income used to be catching and selling fish. But these people have converted the river bed into barren land, but nobody says anything because it is these people who fund local political leaders,” Kevat says.

The Narmada and politics

The Narmada has always been central to the imagination of Madhya Pradesh, geographically India’s second largest state, and its politics. It was declared a living entity in May 2017, flows 1077 kilometres through the state and is a major source of water.

In December 2016, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan began a 150-day yatra called the Narmada Seva Yatra across 65 constituencies and 15 districts that included a plantation drive, a cleanliness campaign, and the announcement of the ban on sale of liquor within five kilometres of the river.

Two years later, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Digvijaya Singh started a 192-day footmarch called the Narmada Yatra covering more than 3300 kilometres. In the assembly elections in late 2018, the party made a raft of promises, including the development of a 100 places along the banks at a cost of ₹1100 crore. On their way to a slender lead, the Congress won 36 of the 65 seats along the banks of the river. But its rule would last a mere 15 months.

Cut to 2023, and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra kicked off her campaign in Jabalpur after praying to the river; the Congress has promised a Narmada conservation plan, and the creation of the “Narmada Sewa Sena”.

The BJP claims it has done its bit for the river in the course of its three-year term. In 2022, the Chouhan led government changed the name of Hoshangabad to Narmadapuram. In 2021, the BJP government announced the Narmada Corridor and the clean Narmada project. The schemes involve an expansion of the ghats, beautification work, the showcasing of religious scriptures, and a cleanliness drive that has been allocated ₹20 crore in the initial phase.

But in Narmadapuram, there is very little conversation around these schemes. There is only talk about what one can see on the banks, illegal mining.

The mining on the ground

On the morning of November 3, HT reached the Magariya bridge in Bandrabhan, where tractor trollies full of sand emerged out of a kuccha road that connects Barkhedi. One driver who identified himself as Kapil Yadav stopped his vehicle and blew a whistle. The excavation stopped, and sand was unloaded quickly. Yadav said, “This is a multi-crore business and we know what to do. You can’t make fools of us.”

On one corner of the road, in one small mud home, there is a lone voice of dissent. Himmat Singh, a Dalit man, says, “We have filed a complaint with the administration many times, but little action has been taken. This illegal mining causes losses to the government but has also ruined our lives. These people who excavate sand are not locals and refuse to give us jobs. They are a mafia.” Suddenly, he fell quiet, spotting two men on motorcycles approaching. “They will beat us up if they know we spoke to the media. Please leave,” he whispers.

Narmadapuram district collector Neeraj Singh claimed there was no illegality because 118 mines of the district were opened for e-tendering in July. “Three companies won bids of different mines and it was executed on October 31, so there is nothing illegal.”

But district mining officer Devesh Markam said that the contract had finalized 78 places where mining can take place, but it has yet to commence in 72 of these locations including Bandrabhan, Kharra Ghat and Karbala Ghat because they have not yet received an environmental no-objection-certificate from the National Green Tribunal.

The politics on the ground

The links with local politics are evident beneath the surface. At the Kharra Ghat, Dhanraj Raikwar has placed a phone call, complaining about the presence of outsiders to the “contractor” Siyaram Yadav, the brother of former Congress corporator Munna Yadav. The contractor arrives within minutes in two SUVs and 16 people in tow. Loudly, he says the area is his, and citizens can only come to the ghat with permission.

Yadav says he is an employment generator. “I give employment to a 100 people like Raikwar. I took a loan of ₹10 lakh to purchase two tractors and trollies, so how is it wrong? The government has banned mining so now we are forced to do this in an illegal manner,” Yadav says.

Another man with Yadav says that any questions should be put to people “higher up.” “Ask the administration to take action against “Laddo Rani”, “Bhagyashree” and “Annapurna”. These are code words that are written on dumpers and trucks with sand that belongs to politicians that nobody stops,” he said.

Mining officer Markam said that these allegations were false. “We continue to take strict action against everyone.”

At a temple in Bandrabhan, a local priest Pandit Bhagwandas says, “I came here 20 years ago to dedicate my life for Maa Narmada but I am now always filled with sadness. The river once flowed like the Ganga through the year, but now looks like a small river. The deep pits along the sides pose threats during the rainy season and the barren land has taken away its beauty.”

The BJP MLA from Narmadapuram, Sitashqran Sharma, who is contesting again, said mining along the banks must be regularised. “Mining should be legalised because it will give employment and generate revenue for the government. We are also developing ghats of the Narmada to develop as a tourist spot.”.

In any case, voters face a peculiar choice ahead of them, forced to pick between sitting BJP candidate Sitasharan Sharma, and his elder brother and former two time MLA Girijashankar Sharma. The elder Sharma, who was in the BJP both times he was an MLA, joined the Congress in September. “Mining in the Narmada is a major issue, as is the issue of the lack of development in an area that has tourism potential, ruined by the mining mafia. Both brothers have done nothing to boost tourism and control illegal mining,” said Gajendra Singh, a social activist.

Rajeev Agarwal, a Narmadapuram based journalist who has written on the state of the river for years, said that there was unlikely to be any respite, no matter who comes to power. “Whether it is the Congress or the BJP, both have used the Narmada to target the sentiments of people. In the last 18 years, the BJP has done nothing to control mining, but in their 15 month tenure, the Congress did little either.”