Stop Illegal Dumping in Forest Land

Under pressure of the agitation against the Helang incident, where women taking fodder from the common village land were stopped and insulted by the police and administration, now the Chamoli administration and police finally visited the victim Mandodari Devi's house to apprise her of their ‘intention’ of preventing anymore dumping waste soil by the company’s contractors. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had to announcement an enquiry by the Garhwal Commissioner, which was followed by this visit by Chamoli ADM, Joshimath SDM and Joshimath area Patwari to the Helang village to speak with Mandodari Devi and gather facts of the incident.

The administrative team which came on the orders of the Divisional Commissioner assured Mandodari Devi that the Company would not dump any more debris in the pasture land. They gave their mobile numbers to her and said that they should be informed immediately if the company people dump debris. Mandodari Devi said that their machine is still standing there. Debris is not being dumped during the day but nobody is aware what is being done at night. Regarding the 15 July incident, she said that everything is clearly visible in the video.

Helang Valley

Interestingly, the administration which had been consistently branding Mandodari Devi guilty is now singing a different tune and praising her, saying that we people celebrate Environment Day once a year but you people protect the forest throughout the year and thus protect the environment every single day.

Speaking about this changed face of the administration, CPIML leader Atul Sati said that it is people's strength that has brought the administration down to the ground. The same people branded as encroachers by the administration are now being praised as protectors of the environment. It is Mandodari Devi's dauntlessness and firm spirit that is behind this changed tune and caused the same administration that had given permission to the Company to dump mucking and build a sports ground in the forest to ban the Company from dumping debris. But we shall accept nothing less than implementation of the 5 demands’ charter passed in the Helang Jan Sabha.