Chamkaur Sahib- Chamkaur Sahib Morcha leaders and other environmentalists have taken strict note of the public notice issued by the Punjab government seeking objections and suggestions for resuming mining in villages Daudpur and Fassayan. They have called upon the residents of the area to mobilize again for the struggle and warned that mining will not be allowed at the places proposed by the government.
In this regard, the leaders of the Morcha Khushwinder Singh, Lakhbir Singh Hafizabad Jujhar Singh and Jaspreet Singh Jassa said that the Rupnagar office of the Mining Department has advertised in newspapers and invited suggestions and objections for running a government sand dump in the Sutlej River near villages Daudpur and Fassayan.
He said that in this regard, a committee formed at the sub-division level under the leadership of the Deputy Commissioner Rupnagar had visited the said place on 15 May 2025 and recommended to run a sand quarry officially. On the basis of which, the Mining Department has sought suggestions and objections from the Sites Committee in District Rupnagar, Mines and Geology Department of the Punjab Government for running a government sand quarry.
He said that in the advertisement issued to receive objections and suggestions based on the visit reports of the Mining Department, the site of village Daudpur (Becharag Mauja Mulana) etc. has been approved by the government. In this regard, suggestions and objections have been sought from the people of the area for mining sand from here within a month.
The leaders of the front took a clear stand in this regard and said that a short while ago, the dam of the Sutlej river in the villages of Daudpur and Phasian was on the verge of breaking due to the ingress of salt, which was saved by the youth of the area and the army day and night by filling it with soil and bags of earth.
They said that on the other side of this dam, people in the land of the Forest Department had also staged a protest in Rupnagar demanding to straighten the river water and remove the barrage from the river and build a drain, but the district administration and mining department have been doing nothing to dig the drain till now. On the other hand, now there is a rush to start mining at the same place.
The leaders alleged that the conditions that had arisen in the dams of the villages of Daudpur and Phasian were due to illegal mining going on here for the past many years.
When we spoke to SDM Amrik Singh Sidhu in this regard, he said that the concerned department has visited the above-mentioned places in the river as per the orders of the government and whatever suggestions the people of the nearby villages give, those suggestions will be recorded and the entire report will be sent to the government soon.