Excessive stone mining threatens river

BUTWAL, May 24: The banks of the Tinau River are collapsing as a result of excessive stone mining. The river has been mined for the last ten years using excavators, which has considerably increased its depth. Environmentalists say the current situation at Tinau will prove a disaster for the area if precautions are not taken soon.



Currently, three dozen excavators are extracting hundreds of truckloads of stone from the river´s 12 km length. The Water Resource Act of 1992 prohibits the use of any equipment while extracting materials from a river. The District Development Committee, who handed over the contract to extract the stone, has clearly disregarded the Act.







The haphazard extraction of stones has increased the river´s depth by 10 meters over the past 10 years. According to environment engineer Khetraj Dahal the depth of the river under the Tinau Bridge at the East West Mahendra Highway has also increased by a meter over the past year. Dahal says if the extraction continues, the bridge will surely collapse within the next few years.



Last year a flood in the Tinau River swept away 300 houses. Experts say if efforts aren´t made to conserve the river, it will see a fate similar to that of Koshi.



“Even if countless meetings have been held on the issue, no one is concerned with conservation,” says Dahal.

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