Press Release – Mathela village's struggle against illegal and unregulated stone crushers enters 17th day
17th June 2015, New Delhi: A people's protest against 2 proposed and 3 stalled stone crushers is going on in the Mathela village of Tehri district of Uttarakhand for the last 17 days. This historic village of Madho Singh Bhandari is collectively struggling against the installation of stone crushers as they are severely impacting the agriculture and environment of the village.
Despite the recent Commissioner's investigation report, which was ordered as a resolution to people's protests, has clearly pointed out that all the stone crushers have broken the regulations, yet there has been no action to stop the functioning of the crushers. Seeing in-action, people have reassumed the protests. At the same time, police have been trying to suppress the peaceful people's struggle and unjust cases against the protesters have been filed. Protesting against police repression, Sameer Ratudi activist of 'Himalaya Bachao Andolan' did eat not or drink anything for 6 days. After it was ensured by the representatives of the government that the police officials involved will be charged, Sameer Ratudi started drinking water but the fast still continues. Today is 13thday of the fast by him and the headperson of the village Shoorvir Singh Bisht. The demands are straight and two-fold-
- Immediately stop the functioning of illegal and unregulated stone crushers in Mathela, Tehri
- Cancel the unjust and false cases against the protesters
As the country as well as the nearing nations are witnessing hazardous environmental depletion and climate change, resulting into disasters and tragedies, activities that threaten the nature must be put on hold. Stone crushing is one such activity which must be stopped. With environmental safeguards being diluted and laws to destroy the land and agriculture, such as the recent Land Acquisition Ordinance, being pursued by the Government, struggles against this unmindful pursuit of power being fought in Mathela as well as thousands of villages and cities of the country are our only hope for a better and sustainable future.
We appeal to all the concerned citizens to support the struggle of the people of Mathela by writing to the CM Uttarakhand and/or making calls, demanding stoppage of stone crushers in Mathela urgently. Following are the details:
Chief Minister Secretariat
Address: 4 Subhas Road,
Uttarakhand Secretariat,Fourth Floor New Building,
Dehradun,Uttarakhand,Pin Code 248001
Phone No-0135-2650433, 2655177
Fax-2712827
Email :cm-ua@nic.in
Medha Patkar – Narmada Bachao Andolan and National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM); Prafulla Samantara – Lok Shakti Abhiyan & Lingraj Azad – Samajwadi Jan Parishad – Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, NAPM, Odisha; Dr. Sunilam, Aradhna Bhargava – Kisan Sangharsh Samiti & Meera – Narmada Bachao Andolan, NAPM, MP; Suniti SR, Suhas Kolhekar, Prasad Bagwe – NAPM, Maharashtra; Gabriele Dietrich, Geetha Ramakrishnan – Unorganised Sector Workers Federation, NAPM, TN; C R Neelkandan – NAPM Kerala; P Chennaiah & Ramakrishnam Raju – NAPM Andhra Pradesh, Arundhati Dhuru, Richa Singh, Nandlal Master – NAPM, UP; Sudhir Vombatkere, Sister Celia – Domestic Workers Union & Rukmini V P, Garment Labour Union, NAPM, Karnataka; Vimal Bhai – Matu Jan sangathan & Jabar Singh, NAPM, Uttarakhand; Anand Mazgaonkar, Krishnakant – Paryavaran Suraksh Samiti, NAPM Gujarat; Kamayani Swami, Ashish Ranjan – Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan & Mahendra Yadav – Kosi Navnirman Manch, NAPM Bihar; Faisal Khan, Khudai Khidmatgar, J S Walia, NAPM Haryana; Kailash Meena, NAPM Rajasthan; Amitava Mitra & Sujato Bhadra, NAPM West Bengal; Bhupender Singh Rawat – Jan Sangharsh Vahini & Rajendra Ravi, Madhuresh Kumar and Shabnam Shaikh, Kanika – NAPM, Delhi
For further details, Contact Vimalbhai: 09718479517