Mining blues

THE state of Rajasthan evokes images of
camels loping over lifeless sand stretching to the horizon, without the welcome
punctuation of green cover. So the state
government's bid to denotify 3,500 sq
km of forest cover for mining purposes
sparked off an alarum. Rajasthan has
hardly 9 per cent notified forest area, of
which only 3 per cent - 17,000 sq km
is under forest cover.

These areas, rich
in marble and mineral
deposits, have lately
caught the state government s avaricious
eye. There are'plans to
convert Banswara,
Dungarpur, Udaipur,
Rajsamund and Alwar
districts into mining locations. As a
measure of its seriousness, the state government is set to use a clause from the
obsolete Rajasthan Forest Act, 1953,
allowing denotification of forests.