The monks in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district on Thursday called off their prolonged agitation against illegal stone mining in the hills near Deeg, forming part of the Braj Chaurasi pilgrimage circuit, after the State government assured them of prompt action in closing down the mines and declaring the region as a forest area through a notification within 15 days.
A seer, Vijay Das, had immolated himself during the demonstration on Wednesday, while a second monk, Narayan Das, had climbed up a mobile phone tower to register his protest. Vijay Das, who was in a critical condition with 80% burn injuries, was shifted from Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh Government Hospital to New Delhi for treatment.
The Congress government announced that the mines operating in Kankanchal and Adi Badri hills region, covered in the Lord Krishna circuit of the Hindu pilgrimage, would be shifted elsewhere following the forest area notification. Over 40 mines were being operated in the area since their allotment between 2000 and 2018, while the hills were left out of a 2009 notification which had declared large parts of Deeg and Kaman tehsils as forest areas.
Bharatpur Collector Alok Ranjan, who read out a letter of agreement in the presence of monks and local residents in Deeg’s Pasopa village, said the region would be developed with the objective of promoting tourism, religious activities and pilgrimage. “About 2,500 persons engaged in the mines will be provided with alternative employment in other areas,” Mr. Ranjan said.
Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh, who represents the Deeg-Kumher constituency in the State Assembly, said the State government has handled the issue with sensitivity since the beginning. “There was no need to mislead the protesters and provoke them to climb on a mobile phone tower or set oneself on fire... Every person’s life is precious,” Mr. Singh said.
The Opposition BJP, which has strongly criticised the State government over the monk’s self-immolation attempt, on Thursday constituted a five-member committee which will visit Bharatpur to ascertain the facts and submit its report to the party’s State president Satish Poonia. The committee’s members include Alwar MP Mahant Balaknath and former ministers Prabhulal Saini and Gajendra Singh Khimsar.
