Dudhnoi, Nov 23: Residents of the Damra area under Dudhnoi Police Station staged a massive protest on Wednesday against the ongoing sand mining in the Dudhnoi River, accusing authorities of ignoring their repeated objections. Organized by the Mothers’ Union of Assam & Meghalaya and the Garo Students’ Union (GSU) Assam State Zone, the rally drew over a thousand participants from various communities and organizations.
During the protest rally, many NGOs from Meghalaya, All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), KMSS leaders and people from various communities took part and shouted slogans against the sand mining from the Dudhnoi River. More than one thousand people from Garo and other communities from Kalikapara, Damra, Nokmakundi, Kasumari, Patpara, Thengshot, Bakrapur and many other villages from Meghalaya took part in the rally.
The protest rally took out from the Damra High School Playground to Nokmakundi Playground in Dudhanoi LAC. It is worth mentioning that the image of suffering the villagers from sand mining came to light when several frustrated tribal women with babies in their laps came to the National Highway to protest. Mothers’ Union President Soma Marak said that due to the mining in the Dudnoi river, the level of the water is decreasing day by day. “Even in the rainy seasons, we see very less water than we have seen in the river. On the other hand, sand smugglers using motors to extract the sand from the river and therefore massive erosion started in the area from Dudhnoi to several villages in Meghalaya.” added Soma Marak.
GSU Goalpara district president Bablu Sangma emphasized, “We are not understanding, even after protesting against the sand mining many times, which now created problems on livelihood in the area. People facing problems for cultivation and other works due to the decreasing water level of the river.”
Sangma also said, “We filed memorundums regarding this matter to the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, DC Goalpara, DFO Goalpara many times, but not yet taking actions against it. If the government will not take any actions, we will start resistance movements against mining and transportation and whatever consequences will come out, only the government will be responsible.”
