Illegal Mining Threatens Fatehpur Sikri

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Topic: Illegal mining threatens Fatehpur Sikri

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aUTHOR: Brij Khandelwal/ Fatehpur Sikri

08 May 2003

 

The ancient capital of Akbar is threatened by uninterrupted mining

activity, most of it illegal in the neighbourhood.

 

Unscrupulous stone merchants have been blasting away at the numerous

quarries, digging for the much in demand Fatehpur Sikri stone,

without any concern for the safety of the heritage site.

 

The Archeological Survey of India's superintending archeologist K K

Mohammed says: "We have brought the matter to the notice of the

district authorities time and again. But the results have been zero.

For a while there was a lull in mining activity but the tempo has

picked up again."

 

As one stands on the Sikri ridge overlooking the sprawling green

fields around, one can hear the intermittent blasts and see the

clouds of dust every now and then.

 

To add to the utter confusion in the vicinity, the State sales tax

department has opened shop close to the Sikri complex, forcing

thousands of heavy vehicles which emit foul gases that have raised

the pollution level in the area, to wait indefinitely. Each day

thousands of trucks line up the Fatehpur Sikri road awaiting

clearance from the sales tax department, the process being too

elaborate and corruption stricken.

 

Guide Ram Prakash reminded that the Supreme Court of India had asked

the authorities to put a ban on mining activity within a 10 km radius

of the Fathepur Sikri complex.

 

But powerful contractors and stone merchants eventually managed to

pressure the politicians, who asked the district authorities to

overlook the breach.