BIRATNAGAR, JUN 05 -
The District Administration Office (DAO), Morang has been preparing to
shut down all kinds of crusher factories in the district. The DAO
decided to ban stone crushing factories after the water level in the
rivers where they have been operating began dropping alarmingly.
Chief District Officer Ganesh Raj Karki said running crushers would be
restricted. Karki said that they took the step after observing that the
river surface had fallen during a site visit on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, a team comprising CDO Karki and political representatives
visited the crusher plants in the region. Similarly, the team also
inspected the Mawa Khola and Nunsari Khola rivers situated in the
north-eastern part of the district.
“Based on the water level in these rivers, we have planned to form a
standard in order to give licence to crusher factories,” he said. “The
surface of almost all the rivers where crushers are running has
dropped.”
The government has now imposed a ban on the use of heavy equipment in
the rivers. The team also inspected the products at the crusher plants.
Karki said the crusher operators had demanded that they be permitted to
use heavy equipment in the rivers as they had run out of stock.
“However, we found sufficient stocks of stones with them.”
The government’s recent report has also stated that crusher plants have
sufficient stocks of construction materials. He warned crusher
operators of government action if they increased prices of materials
showing artificial shortages. Shivam Crusher, Krishna Crusher,
Purbanchal Crusher Udyog, Pashupati Crusher and Tirupati Crusher are
among the stone crushing plants operating in the region. Karki said
these plants had sufficient sand and gravel with them. However, the
crusher operators have been demanding a permit to extract more stones
from the rivers saying that they contained plenty of them.
Meanwhile, the operators have been found to be illegally extracting
materials from rivers flowing alongside forests. “The operators have
been running their plants even in restricted areas,” said District
Forest Officer Shree Prasad Baral. He added that they would now conduct
inspections on a regular basis to control such activities.
Meanwhile, the police here held a loader with number plate Ko 1 Ka 859
that was found extracting construction materials from the Gachhiya
River. Deputy Superintendent of Police Prabhu Dhakal said the tipper was
found taking sand from the river.
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