Haryana’s Badlands ‘Gold Mine’ Dadam Death Trap For Workers

DADAM (BHIWANI): With seven deaths reported within four months at Dadam Hills in Tosham tehsil of Haryana’s Bhiwani district, this controversial mining zone is turning into a death trap for those working there.
Also known as the “gold mine” of Haryana, the Dadam mining zone is run with massive security and secrecy by the project proponent, making the area the lucrative badlands of Haryana.
Most of these deaths were caused by rockfall at the mining site. Two persons involved in mining and transportation work were killed on the intervening night of April 23 and 24. On January 1, five workers were crushed to death due to a landslide in the mining zone. On June 22, 2019, a man died while working in Pit No. 12 of the mining area due to a boulder falling on him while he was working on a machine. With this, a total of eight people have lost their lives during the tenure of the current project proponent, M/s Goverdhan Mines and Minerals.
For the last two years, almost every report prepared on the directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which is also seized of this matter, has indicted the project proponent for the “unscientific and illegal” mining activities in Dadam Hills. Even the most recent report that was tabled before NGT in the first week of this month indicted the company for illegal activities and even directed the firm to pay Rs 7. 5 crore compensation for the damages it had caused to the environment due to illegal mining.
Despite several indictments and many people losing their lives, the clout of those running the mining contract at Dadam Hills can be gauged from the fact that the Manohar Lal Khattar-led coalition government has not come forward to announce any concrete or deterrent steps to avoid further loss of lives at the “deadly” site.
Perhaps due to the stoic silence of the state leadership, the concessionaires or project proponent of the mining site has even disowned the fatal incidents, claiming that some of the mishaps had taken place out of the mining zone.
However, the project proponent, which is earning hundreds of crores from this profitable mining zone, opts for an immediate settlement with the families of the deceased. The firm pays immediate ex-gratia to the families and the amount is higher than that quantified by the state’s labour department. After five persons lost their lives in the January 1 incident, the labour department had recommended payment of Rs 12. 60 lakh to Rs 12. 80 lakh for the families of those killed. However, the firm paid Rs 15 lakh each.
According to villagers living around the Dadam mining area, the mining contractors pay compensation quickly to ensure no legal action is initiated against them.
The mining activities in the contentious zone are being done by the project proponent according to their will right under the nose of government machinery, putting the lives of those working in this area at risk.
World of its own
On a visit to the site this week, TOI noticed the visible clout of the mining firm in the area, with their diktat being imposed on villages around the site. The project proponent has a full-fledged army of persons who keep a strict vigil to ensure no outsider/official or team enters the area. Information is immediately passed via dedicated WhatsApp groups. Some messages seen by the TOI revealed that earlier there was a WhatsApp group named ‘Vigilance Group. ’ but it recently was re-named ‘Gulab Ka Phool. ’
The members of the WhatsApp group, who are equipped with sticks and licenced weapons, ensure no one takes photographs or videos while crossing the area adjoining the Dadam Hills extraction site. TOI, however, managed to photograph the mining activities going on in the area where deaths took place recently and the area around 100 meters down the site dug up by the contractor. TOI also accessed some videos which showed gun-toting guards and women deployed by the contractors manhandling those trying to make videos of the area. Although blasting takes place between 1pm and 4pm every day when the area is cordoned off to avoid any mishap, the contractor’s army always keeps the area “out of bounds” for any visitor to keep their affairs “secret. ” Apart from Haryana, people from Jharkhand, Bihar, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh work on the mining site.
Dadam resident advocate Jaipal Jaglan, who has been taking up with the local police the alleged illegal activities by the contractors at the mining site, said the lives of locals have been made hell by the goons of the contractors, as they threaten them whenever any police complaint is made against their activities.
Complaints galore, but no action
Jaipal, who has his ancestral land adjacent to the mining site, said that the villagers had already alerted the local administration and the police about the illegal method of mining being adopted by the contractors but no action was taken. “Had our complaints or memorandum been taken seriously, both the recent incidents could have been averted,” he claimed while showing the memorandums submitted to the authorities just before the January incident. Importantly, it was only after Jaipal’s complaint that an FIR was registered by the police for the second incident on April 23-24.
Kuldeep Singh Pahal, on whose complaint the NGT has been monitoring the case for the past two years, said it is a fight between a common man and the mighty company. “When I took up the matter, I was beaten up and a case was filed against me. I have seen the entire administration and police system supporting the company. I have distanced myself from the village and Dadam Hill area only to maintain peace. My fight before NGT against the high-handedness of the contractor will continue. They have not only ruined the lives of local villagers, but also ruined the wildlife of Aravali hills,” Kuldeep added.
It is Kuldeep’s petition on which several reports and inquiries have been carried out by the Haryana authorities regarding the alleged irregularities in Dadam Hills. He also expressed surprise that despite several interim reports virtually indicting the contractor, no action has been taken regarding illegal and unregulated mining activities in Dadam due to, what he describes as collusion and connivance of the state authorities with private persons.
Kuldeep claimed that he had purchased a chunk of two acres adjacent to the mining area and the same had been dug up more than a hundred feet by the contractor, rendering the land useless.
Rakesh Dalal, who has taken up the issue before the Punjab and Haryana high court and has sought a CBI probe into the Dadam Hills mining affairs, said an impartial CBI probe would reveal the “collusion and connivance of high-ranking officials/leaders of the state with private persons, involved in the illegal mining” in Dadam Hills.
“The illegal mining was allowed, beyond the permissible lease area of 137. 5 acre (55 hectare) since 2013 not only in the lease area, but also in 224 acre of the protected forest area of Dadam village. The documents, including various reports and even different orders passed by the NGT, would show that uncontrolled mining was being allowed in the protected area and that the 1. 5-km long drain, Dadam Distributory, had disappeared,” Dalal explained.
A petition seeking a CBI probe into the mining activities in Dadam Hills is already pending before the high court and the court has sought a reply from the Centre and the state authorities on this.
Sources said the contractor earns more than Rs 1 crore every day from mining. Around 1,500-1,800 trucks, with the capacity of transporting around 35 tonne each, have been deployed by the project proponent for the mining activities in the Dadam Hills area. The sources also added that a Yamunanagar-based person is one of the main beneficiaries of the entire Dadam Hills mining project and Ved Pal Tanwar has been handling the entire operational activities on the site.
Company owes ₹33cr to the village panchayat
Ramphal Singh, outgoing sarpanch of the Dadam village, said the villagers have no problem if the contractor carries out its operations in a proper manner. “But the company has been carrying out the operations according to its own will, completely ignoring the safety norms. Their main aim appears to make money at any cost. Even at the cost of human lives. According to the norms, the company is supposed to pay Rs 9 crore every year to the village panchayat but to date, it has not paid any amount. After applying interest, the company has the liability of Rs 33 crore towards the village panchayat. If the said amount is paid, the same would have been spent on the development of the village, as the residents are suffering because of the mining activities in several ways,” Ramphal claimed.
According to the sarpanch, the panchayat had even written to the Bhiwani deputy commissioner to ensure that the company would pay their pending dues, but to no avail.
The firm denies all claims
When contacted, Ved Pal Tanwar, one of the representatives of the project proponent, M/S Goverdhan Mines and Minerals, said the latest deaths had taken place out of the mining zone and the company has no negligence in this and they are adopting all safety norms.
When asked about the alleged unscientific and illegal mining activities as mentioned in the reports, Tanwar said some people are unnecessarily raking up the issue without thinking that thousands of people would render jobless if mining activities are stopped in this area and the government would also suffer massive loss of revenue.
With regard to the non-payment of royalty amount to Dadam village panchayat, Tanwar said the matter is pending before the court.
On the issue of his high-handedness and manner of working to terrorise local residents from raising the issue of any illegalities in the mining zone, Tanwar took a complete u-turn and said “now he has no role in mining activities” and he owns a small crusher only.
Amendment in statute recommended
Importantly, as per the current provisions, no court can take cognizance regarding violations under the Mines and Minerals Act. Even police cannot register an FIR against the violator on the complaint given by any citizen or an individual.
In its detailed interim report dated October 13, 2021, the NGT panel headed by Justice Pritam Pal, had recommended for requisite amendment in the Mines and Mineral (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957. As per the current provisions, no court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this Act except upon a complaint in writing made by a person authorised on this behalf by the central or the state government.
Presently, police cannot register an FIR against the violator on the complaint of any citizen or individual. The panel had recommended that an amendment in the act is needed to the extent that the police department should have powers to register FIR against the violators.