Bageshwar: The best quality chalk in the world comes from the mountains of Uttarakhand. Bageshwar district of the state is at the forefront in chalk production. However, due to its indiscriminate mining, many mountains adjacent to the Himalayas have been damaged, due to the extraction of lakhs of tons of chalk every year, the mountains are gradually becoming hollow, while the centuries-old water sources, drains and streams are also disappearing. But along with the disadvantages, chalk also has many benefits.
Chalk is a soft substance in the form of white clay or stone. It is formed from lime inside the ground, and comes out in the form of limestone, which is made of the mineral calcite. In this, chalk with zero calcium is considered to be of best quality. It is soft like soap, due to which it is also called soap stone. Talking exclusively to Local 18, Khadiya Mine’s legal advisor Basant Kumar says that it is a multipurpose mineral. Which is used as raw material in making many products. Khadiya is providing employment to thousands of people in the district and lakhs of people in India. This includes many people including mine owner, partner, manager, engineer, foreman, labourer, truck, JCB, pokeland owner and operator, manager, local shopkeepers.
130 mine registers in the district
Mining Officer of Bageshwar, Jigyasa Bisht said that at present there are 130 mines registered in the district. Out of these, 10 mines have just been opened. Last year, revenue of about Rs 29 crore was obtained from chalk production. This time, the revenue received can be estimated after the opening of other mines.
How is chalk extracted?
Jigyasa Bisht told that chalk is extracted with the help of open cost mining. Blasting is not required to remove it. It is extracted in a soft manner with the help of JCB and Pokeland machine. To extract it, a pit is dug in the marked area, and it is taken out with complete safety. According to many researches done on chalk, the best quality chalk in the whole of India or the world comes from the mountains of Uttarakhand. In this, Bageshwar district of the state is at the forefront in producing best quality chalk. The mining lease holders here also believe that good quality chalk comes out in Bageshwar and it can also be called the ‘luck of Bageshwar’.
chalk is exported here
The chalk of Bageshwar is first sent to Haldwani. After this, it goes to other states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, and from here it is exported to other countries. Balwant Singh, President of Uttarakhand Soap Stone Mine Association, believes that if a chalk industrial plant is established in Uttarakhand, it will make it easier for businessmen to export goods to Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand will be able to earn better profits.
chalk is a source of employment
Khadiya in Bageshwar is providing employment to more than 4551 people. Mining lease holder Girish Parihar believes that Khadiya is providing employment to lakhs of people directly and indirectly in the entire state, and the state government is also getting revenue worth crores from it. Apart from this, in the mining lease area, an additional 15% is spent by the lease holder in the development of the area.
chalk industry should be established in Uttarakhand
As much as there is profit in the chalk business, it is equally expensive. Businessmen related to Khadiya believe that if industrial plants related to Khadiya are established in Uttarakhand itself, then it will provide more employment to the people of Uttarakhand including Bageshwar, and the state will also be able to get good revenue. All the mining lease holders that the Local 18 team spoke to believed that the future of Uttarakhand in the Kharia area could be better with the establishment of Kharia Industrial Plant in Uttarakhand.
Tags: Bageshwar News, Ground Report, Local18, Uttarakhand news
FIRST PUBLISHED : November 4, 2024, 3:37 PM IST
