CURATED BY – SHREE NIWAS MISHRA | CITYCHIEFNEWS

Maihar. Social worker Vishnunath Pandey of Maihar reached to inspect Jal Ganga Sanvardhan Abhiyan but found the work closed on the spot. Some social workers along with Mr. Pandey had reached Amiliya pond of Tilaura to do labour donation. When Mr. Pandey talked to the villagers, the villagers told that Ultratech Cement Company had sent the machine for two days and after making a little scratch for show, they called back their machine and took it away.
Under the Jal Ganga Samvardhan Abhiyan, Tilaura Mines operated by UltraTech Cement Plant Maihar by District Collector Maihar, mining of mineral wealth cement stone is being operated in hundreds of hectares in village Tilaura and due to mines being operated in hundreds of hectares, there has been a huge decrease in the water level in village Tilaura. The reason for this is that Tilaura Mines of UltraTech Cement Plant Maihar is extracting stones from a depth of about 500 feet, due to which the sources of water level have completely stopped. A huge problem of water is being seen in villages Tilaura, Naraura, Silauti, Jurwa, Umri etc. The villagers here are yearning for drinking water at various places. Along with this, due to heavy blasting in Tilora Mines, there are cracks in the kutcha and pucca houses. The roofs of big pucca houses are also getting torn due to blasting. At the same time, wells, stepwells, ponds are all dry. Small farmers used to irrigate their fields by getting private bores done for farming, but today due to Tilaura Mines, the bores of those farmers have stopped working. Some bores are in Tilora Mines. Due to blasting, they got destroyed and collapsed, when the main water is needed in the fields, the bores of the farmers lie dry, seeing this the farmers are holding their heads and crying in the name of Ultratech Cement Maihar. The District Collector of Maihar appealed for Shramdaan from UltraTech Cement Plant Maihar and asked for cooperation in the deepening and cleaning of Amiliya pond situated in the middle of village Tilaura. UltraTech Cement Maihar, in order to please the District Collector Maihar, took up the task of cleaning and deepening the Amiliya pond of Tilaura, but after doing a show of work for two days, stopped the work. UltraTech started waiting for the rain to come soon so that it could get an excuse. Making the excuse of rain to the District Collector that cleaning and deepening cannot be done due to rain, seeing the flaw in the intention of UltraTech Cement, the villagers and the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat also informed the District Collector Maihar that the Honorable District Collector, UltraTech Cement Plant is not doing any work in the pond. Taking cognizance of this, the District Collector Maihar again contacted UltraTech Cement Maihar and appealed to start the work in Amiliya pond with full force. But the last four days have passed by UltraTech Cement Maihar, no work is being done by the company. Why is UltraTech Cement Plant Maihar behaving arbitrarily? Why is it ignoring the villagers? Today, these very villagers have raised their voice. The ancestral RG was sold to Ultratech Cement Company of Maihar, which Maihar Cement, working very cleverly and cunningly, by not buying land directly from the farmers, instead bought land indirectly, got lease sanctioned in hundreds of hectares, and by running its huge cement plant, Maihar Cement Plant is running towards progress, while forcing the people of the villages around Tilara Mines. The companies have been told by the government that wherever you exploit the mineral wealth, you will fully cooperate in providing education to the villagers, organizing health camps every year for health, distributing water to the villagers, getting water conservation done, constructing RCC roads, water drainage drains, but Maihar Cement is turning away from all its responsibilities.