Trashigang Ritshalu Quarry30 August, 2010 - Trashigang dzongkhag could finally have a stone quarry after the longstanding issue over an identified quarry in Yangneer was approved recently by the dzongkhag yargay tshogdu (DYT).

The DYT session earlier this month allowed a company, Khorlo mining, to mine from the 7.2-acre area identified as a quarry in Ritshalu, without the social clearance from the community of Yangneer.

Operation of the quarry was stalled for about six months after villagers refused to issue the clearance. Yangneer gup Duptho said that the people wanted to operate the quarry themselves. �A group of 10 villagers showed interest in the business when the issue came up,� he said. He said that the people claimed that they were responsible for anything happening in the area within their gewog and the opportunity should be given to them.

Environmental clearance regulations states that a social clearance is a must, in case the project (the quarry in this case) has an impact on the community. However, it doesn�t specify if a clearance is not needed, in case the project is seen as not having any impact.

Officials said that there is no adverse impact on the community. �The fact that the villagers wanted to operate the quarry made it clear that there is no impact,� said an official. The site is above the Trashigang-Trashiyangtse highway and, according to sources, far from any settlement.

Khorlo mining company had applied for the quarry to the department of geology and mines, which conducted the feasibility study. The company, after the department gave the green signal, approached the dzongkhag land leasing committee. The divisional forest office in Trashigang issued the forestry clearance in early March this year.

Since then the process was stalled, as villagers of Yangneer refused the social clearance.

Meanwhile, contractors in the dzongkhag say that they are suffering from an acute shortage of boulders for the contract work they received. They have even approached the government to seek help. Three ministers have also written to the dzongkhag to look into the matter.

Trashigang dzongkhag had a revised budget of Nu 776.9M in 2008-09, and the approved budget for this fiscal year is Nu 823.668M, of which most are for construction activities.

In the absence of a quarry, the divisional forest office has come under increasing pressure to issue surface collection permits for the ever-increasing construction work in the dzongkhag. �Every year, the government invests a huge amount to conduct land management programs. If the surface collection continues at this rate, the environment would suffer,� said the chief forest officer in Trashigang, Kinzang Gyaltshen.

A group of villagers from Womrong are also looking for a site to operate a quarry.

Surface collection from riverbed site has been allocated to NRDCL in Buna; but, because of the swollen river, it has been temporarily suspended. The only reliable boulder surface collection site in Trashyangtse has run short of boulders, according to sources.

Company officials building the Yonphula airport said that boulder shortage could delay work by months. They have collected only about 60 truckloads in the past three months. Another 500 truckloads are needed to complete the project, according to the construction manager, Karsang Sherpa.

They collect boulders from Udzorong and could manage only one or two trucks a day. At this pace, they might complete the airport only after eight months. He said that, if things did not change, timely completion of the project would be difficult.

�If there�s a boulder supplier, our work can progress faster and we�d have achieved much more than what we�ve done so far,� said Karsang. He added that most of work hereafter is constructing walls and structures, which requires mainly boulders.

The quarry at Ritshalu would benefit people in lower Trashiyangtse as well. There are plans to open one each in Womrong and Trashiyangtse.